The MCC basketball team traveled to Freeport, Illinois Friday afternoon for their first game of the Highland Community College Classic. The 7:00 PM matchup saw the MCC Tigers take on the Highland Community College Cougars. Previously in the season the Tigers defeated the Cougars 74-72 in the Student Activity Center on the Marshalltown Campus. Friday, the Cougars would get the best of the Tigers as MCC fell 80-68.
Mohamed Thiam would be a force offensively in the loss for the Tigers, going 13-24 from the field and 8-14 from the arc for 37 points. Collectively the Tigers would shoot 41.9% from the field with Highland scoring on 51.8% of their attempts. The Tigers would get down and rely on their three point shooting to get them back into the game, unfortunately the threes would not fall with the Tiger going 10-30 from the arc as a team.
The Tigers would play again on Saturday morning when they took on Sauk Valley Community College. The Tigers would get back in the win column as they defeated the Skyhawks 66-60. Oscar Kao would take control of the Tiger offense going 5-11 from the field and 4-11 from the three point line for a team high 17 points. Mohamed Thiam recorded another double double, his seventh of the season, scoring 10 points and 15 total rebounds.
In the final game of the tournament, the Tigers took on the Greyhounds of Moberly Area Community College. The Tigers would fall to the Greyhounds 87-75 on Saturday afternoon. Oscar Kao would continue to shoot the ball well as he finished with 28 points going 10-14 from the field and 8-12 from the arc. Kelton Edwards would see extended playing time in the final game, playing 33 minutes. Taking advantage of the time he went 8-16 from the field, 4-9 from three, and 1-2 from the free throw line for 21 points.
"It was nice to come out and compete against a good Moberly team," stated Assistant Coach Ryan Flack. "We need to have the same pride we had against Moberly every game."
The Tigers will be back in action Wednesday (12/13) when they host the Lakers of Iowa Lakes Community College. The Lakers have been efficient three point shooters all season long as they average just under 100 points a game and shoot 42.5% from the arc collectively. The Tigers will be challenged at home with the Lakers having five players who average over 10 points a game. Sophomore guard Kyle Beisch leads the Lakers averaging 18.5 points per game while shooting 48% from the arc. The game will be streamed live on mccathletics.com with link posted on the MCC Athletics Facebook and Twitter.
