For the third consecutive season, the Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team will travel to Indian Hills Community College for the Region XI Tournament semifinal round. The No. 4 seed Tigers will take on the top-seeded and sixth ranked Warriors at 7:00 PM Wednesday night.
MCC is fresh off of a 69-66 win over No. 5 seed Northeast Community College in the first round of the tournament Monday night at the Student Activity Center. The Tigers were led by a career-high 20 points from sophomore Christal Malalu (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Willem Koning I) and freshman Souf Mensah's (Nantes, France/CCI) 12 points.
In each of the past three seasons, the Tigers have won their first round matchup of the tournament. MCC defeated Northeast in 2014 as the No. 4 seed, upset No. 4 seed Southeastern in 2015, and took this year's matchup from the Hawks. Each of the three victories have resulted in a trip to Ottumwa against the Warriors where Indian Hills has won all three meetings.
The Tigers nearly upset the top seed in last year's tournament. Tied at 90 in the closing minute, Indian Hills escaped the upset-minded Tigers with a 96-91 victory. The Warriors defeated MCC 133-80 in the 2014 Region XI Tournament.
The Warriors boast the most potent offense in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) this year with 96.1 points per game, which also ranks sixth nationally. Five players average in double-figures, led by Jerrelle DeBerry's 14.1.
The winner of Wednesday night's matchup will go on to face the winner of No. 2 seed Iowa Western Community College and No. 3 seed Southeastern Community College.
Indian Hills claimed the 2015 Region XI Championship with a 107-91 victory over Northeast.
Wednesday night's contest will be streamed live: Live Stream
