Marshalltown, IA—Five players reached double-figures for the Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team as the Tigers defeated Central College JV 80-70 at the Student Activity Center on Wednesday night. Tyler Miller's (Louisville, KY/22ft Academy) 18 points led the Tigers.
Despite a double-digit lead throughout the first half, the Dutchmen were able to stay in contention with the Tigers in the second half. After building a 20-point lead, the Tigers faltered late, but Miller scored 10 points in the final frame to erase a Central comeback.
Joining Miller in double-figures was Denzel Ubiaro (London, England/City of London Academy) with a career-high 16 off the bench, Paulius Sakinins (Klaipeda, Lithuania/Lourdes Central Catholic) with 13, and 12 each from Christal Malalu (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Koning Willem I) and Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden).
The Tigers outrebounded their opponent 66-40 thanks to a career-high total of 19 from Malalu, including eight on the offensive end. MCC grabbed a season-best 27 offensive boards compared to just 11 from the Dutchmen.
Maddred's jumper at the 14:28 mark of the first half gave the Tigers a 15-6 edge. Sakinis scored the final four points of the first half as MCC took a 43-30 advantage into halftime. Sakinis finished the first 20 minutes of play with 11 points.
MCC maintained its comfortable lead through the early portions of the second half and led by as many as 24 with under eight minutes to go. A 20-2 run from Central cut into the Tigers lead and the home team saw their lead cut to six, 72-66, with 3:13 to go. Ubiaro scored the final six points of the game, including all four free throws as MCC took the win.
The Tigers travel to Graceland to take on the junior varsity team at 7:00 PM on Thursday.
