Marshalltown, IA—Sophomore Christal Malalu (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Willem Koning I) took over in the second half and carried the No. 4 seed Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team to a 69-66 victory over No. 5 seed Northeast Community College in the first round of the Region XI Tournament at the Student Activity Center on Monday night.
Malalu scored 17 points over the final 20 minutes of play. Despite the dominant post presence from the sophomore, the Hawks stayed in contention until the final horn sounded. Denzel Ubiaro (London, England/City of London Academy) knocked down two free throws in the closing seconds and a desperation three from the Hawks fell short as MCC advanced to the semifinal round for the third consecutive year.
The Tigers will travel to Ottumwa, IA to take on the top-seeded Warriors of Indian Hills Community College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday night. The two teams will meet in the semifinal round for the third straight year, all which saw Indian Hills come out on top. Indian Hills edged the Tigers 96-91 in 2015.
MCC opened the night with the game's first seven points, but the Tiger defense held the Hawks without a point for the first 5:46 of the game. The two teams struggled offensively, but MCC was able to build a 21-9 lead at the 7:25 mark after a jumper from Malalu. Paulius Sakinis (Klaipeda, Lithuania/Lourdes Central Catholic) scored four points in the closing minutes and MCC went into the locker room with a 28-20 advantage.
Malalu got the offense going to start the second half, scoring four straight points in the paint. The Tigers built their lead to 14, only to see the Hawks slowly chip away at their deficit and pull within four, 55-51 with 7:29 to go. In the final minute, Northeast hit a pair of free throws to bring the game within one, 67-66.
After forcing a turnover with 23 seconds to play, the Hawks came down the court and drove the lane, but sophomore Tyler Miller (Louisville, KY/22ft Academy) drew a charge to put the ball back in the hands of MCC. Ubiaro, who had just entered the game, sank two free throws and the Tigers forced an errant three-point shot from the Hawks that fell short, giving the home team its third win over the Hawks this season.
The Tigers held Northeast to just 33.3 percent shooting, including 27.3 percent (6-22) from three-point range. MCC controlled the paint throughout the night, owning a 45-24 edge on rebounds and a 36-22 margin in points in the paint.
Sophomore Vincent Lasley (Tama, IA/South Tama) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and sophomore Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Esporte Clube Pinheiros) corralled a career-high nine rebounds. Souf Mensah (Nantes, France/CCI) was the only other Tiger in double-figures with 12, but 10 different players reached the scoring column on the night.
Malalu finished the night with a career-high 20 points on 6-7 shooting. The sophomore also went 8-11 from the free throw line for the Tigers.
