Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team pulled away from Northeast Community College in the second half to drop the Hawks 93-81 in the Region XI Tournament Play-in Game and advance to the semi-final round at Indian Hills Community College. Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) scored a game-high 28 points.
The fourth-seeded Tigers will take on the top-seeded Warriors for the second time in five days after the two teams met in Ottumwa on Saturday night in the regular season finale. Indian Hills entered the Region XI Tournament as the top overall seed after posting a 7-1 conference record. MCC dropped its first meeting against the Warriors 111-76 on Jan. 25 and fell on Saturday 104-93.
Rodriguez scored 28 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds. Troidell Carter (Lilburn, GA/Meadowcreek) poured in 23 points for his sixth-straight game of at least 20 points. The sophomore shot 8-12 from the floor and 7-8 from the free throw line. Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) scored 12 points and Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Clube Pinheiros) hit three three-point shots and finished with 10 points.
Northeast opened play with a 12-5 advantage in the opening minutes but Jamal Gatali (Toronto, ONT/Downsview) sparked a 9-0 run with a three-point shot to tie the game at 12. Neither side led by more than two points over the next eight minutes. The Hawks took a 28-24 lead but Rodriguez scored 10 straight points to put MCC back on top. The Tigers took a 41-35 lead into halftime.
The Tigers built their lead to double-digits on a layup from Carter at the 16:43 mark to open the second half. Northeast cut the lead to five but Verardo silenced the rally with a three-point shot. Rodriguez hit a layup at the 5:00 mark to give the Tigers their largest lead of the night, 80-59 and send MCC to the next round of the tournament.
The Tigers shot 17-31 in the second half to pull away from the Hawks. MCC attempted a season-high 45 free throws on the night, knocking down 29. MCC forced 20 turnovers on the night, scoring 27 points off the miscues. On the other end, the Tigers committed just eight turnovers, tied for the fewest this season.
In the other semi-final matchup, No. 2 seed Southeastern Community College will host No. 3 seed Iowa Western Community College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday.
