MCC Smashes Southeast

Starting the second half of a season 1-2 after Christmas break, and going into conference play is never comforting for any program. Having started off the 2nd half of the season poorly, the MCC Basketball Family and it's coaching staff were still very optimistic going into their first conference game of the season, on the road, vs Southeast Community College.

Going up against Southeast at Beatrice, NE has never been an easy task for the Indians. Over the past 3 years under head coach Brandon Lenhart's guidance they have gone 1-2 vs Southeast CC on the road, and they have never swept Southeast CC during an entire season. Having eight returning players back from last years 20-11 team makes things a little easier on a program, but MCC's Roller Coaster season didn't seem as comforting.

Coach Lenhart had said that the practices leading up to the game vs Southeast Community College were highly productive, and it seems as though the Indians are ready to take on the challenges ahead.

The game started off at a 100 yard dash pace for both teams, with McCook CC playing at a high rate of speed both defensively and offensively. Most of the first half, both teams were attacking on both ends of the floor. The contest was a see saw battle with McCook making a strong push towards the end of the 1st half. McCook Community College 47 Southeast Community College 38 at the break.

"We were excited to be up by 8 points at the half, and felt very comfortable on how we had played but knew we were capable of much more than an 8 point lead. We made a few adjusments and talked about staying within the parameters of how we do things at McCook CC. I think that the outcome was evident and doing it the McCook Community Colleg way worked pretty well in our favor," said Lenhart.

With 12 minutes to play MCC was up 19 points and Southeast Community College looked stunned. After stunning them the 1st 8 minutes in the 2nd half, MCC continued with their stun gun tactics, winning by 26 points in the 2nd half. It was a lot of fun, but it was business as usual. MCC's coaching staff kept pushing them to do better throughout the entire 2nd half, as they have been up by double digit margins late in games and see that drift away and get themselves into hot water. Tonight was a different story as MCC rolled to a 34 point victory, the largest margin of victory for MCC vs a junior college team this 2010-2011 season.

Antonio Dye (Fr. Mishawaka, IN) led the way for the Indians with 33pts, 8 rebounds, 9assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. Dye was 2 rebounds and 1 assist shy from a triple double. MCC had 4 other players score double digits with Darius Robinson (So Jacksonville, FL) scoring 21, Eric Cutright (So. Zwolle, LA) with 16, Michael Cutright Jr (Fr. Las Vegas, NV) with 15, and Shawn Tarver Jr (So. Gary, IN) ending the night with 13. Eric Cutright led MCC and both teams in rebouding with 12, his 1st double digit rebounding game of the season.

"This was a total team victory, and it feels really good. It's very comforting to know that our team is playing for that name on the front of the jersey not the name on the back. We are very blessed to be playing at this level during this time of the year. We have a lot of season left, and hope to carry this momentum vs Arch Rival and Defending Region IX Champions North Platte Community College on January 19th at 7:30pm in True Hall Gymnasium," stated Lenhart.