Cedar Rapids, IA—Troidell Carter (Lilburn, GA/Meadowcreek) posted his first double-double of the season to help lead the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team to a 66-51 win on the road against NJCAA Division II No. 13 ranked Kirkwood Community College on Wednesday night. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and brings the Tigers' overall record to 8-7.
Carter scored 15 points and pulled-down a game-high 14 rebounds, matching a career-best. The sophomore shot 6-12 from the floor and has scored in double-figures in all but four games this season. Carter leads the Tigers with 11.9 points per game this season.
Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) led the Tigers with 16 points, his third consecutive double-digit scoring performance. Rodriguez connected on 13 points in the second half alone to spark the offense. The freshman also passed out six assists and grabbed five rebounds. Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Clube Pinheiros) hit his first four shots of the night and knocked down three three-point shots to finish with a career-high 14 points.
The Tigers wasted no time setting the tone as MCC jumped out to an 8-0 run thanks to back-to-back threes from Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) and Jamal Gatali (Toronto, ONT/Downsview). Verardo entered the game at the 14:42 mark and made an immediate impact, scoring eight of the next 10 MCC points to put the Tigers up 20-8. The freshman knocked down his third three at the 3:19 mark to give MCC its largest lead, 32-15. The Tigers went into halftime leading 34-22.
After scoring just three points in the first half, Rodriguez caught the hot hand for MCC to open the second half, scoring the team's first seven points. Carter hit a jump shot at the 14:27 mark to extend the Tigers' lead to 21, 47-26. The Tigers held a double-digit lead the entire second half as MCC scored its second road win over a ranked NJCAA DII team this year.
The Tigers previously defeated then-No. 16 North Iowa Area Community College 85-77 on Dec. 4.
MCC's ability to find the open man played a critical role in the upset as the Tigers assisted on 19 of the team's 23 field goals. Along with Rodriguez's six, Green dished out a career-high six assists as well to go along with eight points. The Tigers held their counterpart to just 17.6 percent (3-17) shooting from three-point range.
The Tigers have now won three straight versus Kirkwood with an average margin of victory of 10.7 points per game.
MCC will return to Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play with a road game at Iowa Western Community College on Saturday, with tipoff set for 7:00 PM. The Reivers are ranked No. 10 in this week's NJCAA Division I poll.
