The Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team kicked off the Region XI Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at home Monday night when they hosted the Hawks of Northeast Community College. The two teams battled last Friday in Norfolk, Nebraska for their final ICCAC game, the Tigers walked out with a 73-66 victory to improve to 19-10 on the season. Monday night the two teams battled with the winner advancing to Wednesday's semifinal with the #1 Warriors of Indian Hills Community College. The Tigers would fall to the visiting Hawks 79-67.
The Tiger offense struggled all game long shooting just 39% from the field in the first half. Going down early, the Tigers fought in the final minutes of the first half to get back to even at 33 apiece. All-American hopeful Mohamed Thiam struggled early before having an efficient second half, finishing with a team leading 17 points while shooting 7-21 from the field and grabbing 15 rebounds. Freshman Oscar Kao finished with 14 points, shooting 5-13 from the field and 3-11 from the three-point arc. Berk Karadan came off the bench, playing 17 minutes, shooting 3-4 from the field for ten points on the night.
The Hawks were led by Steve Wooten, who ended with 26 points, shooting 10-14 from the field, 2-2 from the three-point arc, and 4-5 from the free throw line. Jaquan Sanders finished the night with 19 points in his 33 minutes of playing time, shooting 7-11 from the field. The Hawks shot 50.9% collectively from the field and 42.9% from the three-point arc compared to the Tigers 39.7% from the field and 28.1% from the three-point arc.
With the first round loss, the Tigers finish the season 19-11. The MCC women's basketball team travels to Norfolk, Nebraska for their third matchup with the Hawks of Northeast Community College. The Tigers lost to the Hawks last Friday 65-57. The game will be streamed live at http://northeast.edu/Athletics/Womens-Basketball with links posted on the MCC Athletics Tiger Live Stream tab and links posted on MCC Athletics social media pages.
