The MCC men's basketball team took to the hardwood Saturday night to take on the #2 Warriors of Indian Hills Community College. Saturday's ICCAC matchup was the second time the two teams had faced off. The Tigers had traveled to Ottumwa and suffered an 84-56 loss on Saturday, January 20. Saturday's star-studded matchup saw four players listed on JucoRecruiting.com's Top 100. MCC's Mohamed Thiam is currently ranked as the #6 junior college prospect in the nation with Indian Hills Ivan Aurrecoechea coming in at #10. Indian Hill's Shane Gatling and Antonio Williams also broke the top 100, coming in at #25 and #67 respectively.

Saturday's game saw yet another outstanding performance by sophomore Mohamed Thiam but it would not be enough to slow down the #2 Warriors as the Tigers dropped the conference matchup 74-69. Mohamed Thiam never came out of the game playing all 40 minutes while shooting 13-23 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line for 32 points. Freshman Oscar Kao had a difficult night but managed to go 4-9 from the field for 10 points. Kelton Edwards has been a solid sixth man all season and that continued Saturday night as the freshman went 5-7 from the field including 4-6 from the three-point arc for 14 points.

The Warriors had three players in double-digit point totals with Devontae Lane leading the way with 17 points. Shane Gatling also had a productive night for the Warriors, going 4-9 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line for 16 points. The Warriors limited their turnovers to only five while the Tigers committed 14. The Warriors took advantage of their extra possessions outscoring the Tigers off turnovers 18-5.  

"We played well at times but struggled rebounding the ball and turnovers hurt us again," stated Head Coach Brynjar Brynjarsson. "We didn't get those second chances at the glass like we typically do and that may have been the difference tonight."

The 16-10 Tigers will be back in the Student Activity Center on Monday, February 12 when they host Mount Mercy College at 7:30pm. Monday's game will serve as Sophomore Night for the men's basketball team with announcements prior to the game. The game will be streamed live on mccathletics.com with links posted to the MCC Athletics social media pages.