MCC was looking to even the score with Kirkwood Community College when the Eagles visited the Tigers in a rematch of their matchup just two weeks prior. On November, 24, the Eagles defeated the Tigers 84-71 and entered the November, 28 contest with a 6-1 record. Meanwhile, the Tigers entered at 6-5 after picking up a pair of wins in their last two games.
The first half was evenly played as neither team led by more than five points at any time. With the Tigers down by four in their final possession of the half, JJ Foster knocked down a shot from distance to pull the Tigers to within one. At halftime, the score was 42-43, Kirkwood.
The start of the second half saw Kirkwood open up a lead by attacking the basket. In the first five minutes of play in the second half, the Eagles went on a 15-5 run to open up an eleven point lead at 47-58. 12 of the 15 points within the run came from inside the lane as Doug Wilson and Niko Gosnell went to work. Wilson converted four shots at the rim while Gosnell went 2-2 from in close. A three-point shot from Gosnell extended the run before a free throw by Juan Coffi and a deep ball from Nick Fleming stopped the bleeding.
The Tigers continued to fight back and over the next five minutes went on a 16-4 run to take the lead back on a Kelton Edwards jumper to make the score 63-62 with 9:54 remaining. With the score at 65-69, Kirkwood, it was back to work for Doug Wilson. The 6'7 sophomore scored seven straight points to bring the lead to 65-76 with 5:33 remaining. The two teams played back and forth for the remainder of the contest until the final buzzer sounded and the Eagles walked away with an 82-90 victory.
Doug Wilson's combination of speed and size gave the Tigers fits all night. He was too quick for the Tiger bigs and faced up to the basket and attacked the rim. If the Tigers tried to go smaller on him, he'd take his defender to the block. Wilson ended the night with a game-high 33 points on 14-18 shooting from the field. The scoring output by Wilson outshined the efficient and productive night by MCC big-man Eduardo Lane who finished with a team-high 21 points on 9-12 shooting.
The Tigers will see a short break in action as they don't play again until December, 4 when they travel to Quakerdale Prep.
