Marshalltown, IA— Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) collected his third double-double of the season, but the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team came up short in the second half against visiting Southeastern Community College, dropping the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) matchup 78-70 at the Student Activity Center.
Maddred provided a big first half for the Tigers, scoring 15 points on 6-11 shooting in the first frame to keep the upset-minded Tigers (16-9, 0-5) intact. MCC led for the first 19:23 of the first half, but a three-point shot from the Blackhawks put the visitors up 40-39. Southeastern looked poised to take a three-point edge into halftime, but Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) nailed a 60-foot heave at the buzzer to tie the game at 42.
Neither side broke free in the opening minutes of the second half, but it was Southeastern (20-4, 3-2) who put together a quick 8-2 run to go up 61-53 with 10:22 remaining. The Tigers scored six straight to pull back within two, but were unable to cut the deficit any smaller as the Tigers' losing streak reached six with the loss to the Blackhawks.
Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) netted 16 points, including 14 in the second half. Green contributed 12 points along with seven rebounds while Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone) poured in 11 points.
The Blackhawks hit 57.1 percent of their three-point shots, going 4-7 in each frame. Despite a 44-35 rebounding advantage, the Tigers committed costly miscues, turning the ball over 23 times on the night and have now committed at least 16 turnovers in each of their last four games.
The Tigers continue conference play with a road trip to first-place Indian Hills Community College, ranked No. 13 in this week's NJCAA Division I poll, at 7:00 PM on Saturday.
