Indians win two of three at Casper tournament

Indians win two of three at Casper tournament

CASPER, Wyo. The McCook Community College men's won two of three games over the Thanksgiving weekend in the Foss Motors Thanksgiving Classic. The Indians picked up wins Thursday over Dakota College at Bottineau and Saturday against Colorado Northwestern Community College and dropped a Friday decision to the hosts, Casper College.

"I think the biggest thing we can take away from this weekend is that we fought," said MCC Coach Kyle Drennan. "In every game we fought and we fought back and that's good to see because that's something we haven't done consistently."

The Indians improve to 5-6 on the season after downing Colorado Northwest Saturday, taking the lead in the final minute of play to prevail 68-63. On Friday MC dropped am 83-73 decision to No. 25 Casper and began the weekend with a 97-66 win over Dakota College at Bottineau Thanksgiving night.

Even in the 10-point loss to Casper on Friday, the coach was pleased with the fight exhibited by the Indians.

"Every game is boxing match divided into rounds and in two games when won more rounds and against Casper we didn't," Drennan said. "We should have made some shots and we should have won that game. "We've got to grow and figure it out."

On Saturday, playing the early game against 2-7 Colorado Northwestern CC, the Indians were facing the prospect of being snowed in and were taken by the Spartans into the possessions of the game. MCC was nursing a 64-63 lead when sophomore Raheim Sullivan (Toronto, Ontario) drove the lane with 28.2 seconds remaining gave MCC a 66-63 lead. He iced the game from the line with a pair of free throws with 17.9 seconds to give MCC the five-point win.

"With everything going on with the early start, and the snow and the tough game Friday, it was encouraging that we found a way to win on the road, and that's encouraging," Drennan said.

MCC opened the tournament with a 31-point win Thanksgiving Day over Dakota College at Bottineau to send the Lumberjacks to 4-7 on the year.

On Friday the Indians stayed with the 25th ranked Thunderbirds until the second half.

Sophomore Raheim Sullivan (Toronto, Ontario) led the Indians with 29 points. Freshman LeTre Darthard (Denton, Texas) scored 17 points and sophomore Tyrik Singh (San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago) scored 12 points.
Freshman Rahkiem Petterson (Midland, Texas) led MCC with seven rebounds.

Casper held MCC to a 40.6 showing from the field (28 of 69). The Indians made 10 of 31 shots from the 3-point line. The Thunderbirds shot 48.4 percent from the field, and made six of 18 shots from beyond the line and edged the Indians on the boards 42-40.

The Thunderbirds out-scored MCC at the line 17-5. The Indians made five of nine free throws (55.5 percent) while Casper made good on 17 of 26 shots (65.4 percent).

Casper won all three games of the tournament to improve to 9-2 on the season.

On Saturday, MCC and Colorado Northwestern Community College both teams sputtered on the offensive end in the first 10 minutes of the game before MCC stretched the lead to 27-22 with 3:40 left in the half but the Spartans scored a couple baskets in the final minute of the half to pull the deficit to 32-31.

Colorado Northwestern took a 47-42 lead with 13:08 left in the game before MCC battled back and final seized the game in the final minute of play.

The Spartans fall to 2-11 on the season.

THIS WEEK: MCC begins play in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference with a game Tuesday at Columbus against Central Community College (6-4).
The Indians close out the 2019 portion of the schedule with two final games this weekend starting Friday at Cheyenne, Wyo. against Laramie County College (1-7) and then Saturday at Torrington, Wyo. against Eastern Wyoming (6-3). MCC swept the two schools Nov. 8-9 at home besting LCCC 82-66 and Eastern 76-48.

For more information on MCC basketball and all MCC sports, visit the official site of MCC Athletics at https://mccindians.com/index.aspx?path=mbball