Freeport, IL—A season-high 68.2 shooting percentage led to a 104-79 victory for the Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team over Midwest Elite Prep at the 48th annual William R. Bear Classic hosted by Highland Community College on Friday night. Denzel Ubiaro's (London, England/City of London Academy) 17 points led six players in double-figures for the Tigers.
MCC advances to take on Highland at 1:00 PM on Saturday. The Cougars defeated Western Iowa Tech Community College 96-86. The Tigers are defending champs of the tournament after winning the title in 2014.
Ubiaro collected his fourth double-digit scoring effort of the season after shooting 8-11 from the floor. Sophomore Tyler Miller (Louisville, KY/22ft Academy) and freshman Nick Cross (Beverly, MA/Beverly) each scored 16 points while Christal Malalu (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Koning Willem I) added 14. Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) added 11 points off the bench and Paulius Sakinis (Klaipeda, Lithuania/Lourdes Catholic) scored 10.
The Tigers connected on 45 of the team's 66 shots on the night to reach its best shooting effort over the last three seasons. MCC shot 67.6 percent in the first half before upping its mark to 68.8 percent in the second half.
Despite a strong start, the Tigers led by just six at halftime, 53-47. MCC held its opponent to just 32.4 percent shooting in the second half to outscore the Warriors 51-32 over the final 20 minutes.
Malalu led the Tigers with nine rebounds as MCC won the battle on the glass by a 51-30 advantage. Sakinis added seven rebounds and Ubiaro chipped in with six.
Miller collected his first-career double-double as the sophomore contributed a career-high 11 assists to go along with six rebounds. The sophomore has scored at least 16 points in four of his last five games. As a team, MCC tied a season-high with 28 total assists.
Every player scored at least four points for MCC as Souf Mensah (Nantes, France/CCI) and Jamil Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) scored in eight points each and Reggie Gradwell (Marshalltown, IA/West Marshall) chipped in with four points and grabbed five rebounds.
