By ROSS THEDE, TIMES-REPUBLICAN

 

The conflicting part about attacking the basket is that it often times results in foul shots.

 

For the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team, taking that risk eventually yielded the reward.

 

The Tigers overcame a confounding night at the free-throw line by making just enough defensive stops down the stretch to topple John Wood CC for an 80-74 victory on Saturday night at the Student Activity Center.

 

Marshalltown (5-1) swept both of their games in the Emerson Classic, topping St. John's Academy-DME on Friday night before fighting past a game John Wood (1-6) squad in Saturday's event finale.

 

MCC shot 17-for-32 (53.1 percent) from the free-throw line for the night, but six-straight makes at the charity stripe helped the Tigers regain the lead for good in the second half. Marshalltown made a 12-3 run over a three-minute span that turned John Wood's 63-60 lead into a 72-66 deficit, marking the 10th and final lead change of the game.

 

"I was happy with our overall effort, but we've got to play smarter and shoot free throws a lot better too," said MCC head coach Ryan Flack. "Fifty-three percent is not gonna get it done. We did hit some down the stretch, which helped, but it didn't need to come to that and it could have gone the other way."

 

Justice Small scored a game-high 20 points, powered by five of the Tigers' 28 offensive rebounds, and Jayden Hill added another 17 points as Marshalltown made its last lead stand up for the final four minutes. MCC's defense rose to the challenge of slowing down John Wood's offense, featuring 6-foot-9 center Jakeb Wallingford, and the Blazers missed enough 3-pointers to allow the Tigers' paltry free-throw shooting to get the job done.

 

MCC was 6-for-10 from the line the rest of the way, but it proved to be plenty.

 

"John Wood's a good team, their record does not indicate what they're doing other than they've played really good teams in my opinion," said Flack. "I think they're gonna be a really good team and we'll see them again later this year."

 

Wallingford led the Blazers with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but he was held to just 2 points over the final 10 minutes of the game. The Tigers threw a number of defenders at him, including Hill, 6-9 Richard Udoagwa and 6-8 Ahmed Ibrahim. Jion Fukushima, a 6-4 guard, even took a couple turns at guarding John Wood's big left-hander.

 

"It allows us to switch a lot defensively and do a lot of things because really we have one big guy on the floor and two guards that have some length and size and almost play like big guys," said Flack.

 

DJ Hamilton finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Antwan Bridgett added 10 points, six assists, five boards and four steals as MCC improved to 3-0 at home. Hill and Small had eight rebounds each to lead the way.

 

Tavie Smith contributed 15 points for John Wood and Kylen Smith added 14 more as the Blazers shot 9-of-26 from 3-point range.

 

MCC goes to Boone on Tuesday to begin a five-game road swing against NJCAA Division II No. 2 DMACC. The Tigers will visit another ranked team in Ellsworth plus two teams receiving votes in Division I (State Fair, Moberly Area).

 

"We're gonna go on the road for five straight here against some of the top teams in the country so it's gonna be a very tough schedule for us," said Flack. "We're just gonna have to make free throws, execute a little bit better, take better shots and I think our defense will create offense for us, which is a good thing."

 

For more coverage of MCC Athletics, click here:https://www.timesrepublican.com/sports/local-sports/2024/11/tigers-beat-back-blazers/