Stellar Indian - Eric Cutright

Player Name: Eric Cutright
Hometown: Zwolle, LA
Parents: Margie Cutright
This Years Stats: 12 points 6 rebounds
Coach Lenhart Quote: "Eric has been a proving winner at all levels. We look forward to him doing great things after his time at McCook. Eric will be deeply missed by our basketball family!" Forever an Indian -Eric Cutright!
Nickname: Cutty
Favorite Sports Hero: Shaquille O'Neal
If I Could use one word to describe Coach Lenhart it would be: Goofy
People say I look like: Big Baby - Glen Davis
My Goal in Sport is: To Become My Best and Make Teammates Better
My Goal in life is: Achieve Everything I Set Out To Do
One thing most people don't know about me is: I Have A Funny Side


The Following is a personal blog written by your McCook CC Men's Basketball Team, covering their day-to-day lives as both students and athletes at McCook CC. Each week will feature the writings of players. This Week's edition includes blogg from Eric Cutright.

"MCC is a Great Place to be, considering where I am from. It's not much to do just like back home. It gets boring at times but us as teammates find things to do to keep us occupied. We have become a family, and that's all you need. Everyday is a battle in practice, and in the classroom. It's hard sometimes to get up for class after a long/late night practice or road game, but we have grown together and we are now stronger people because of everything we are put through here at MCC. MCC Is Life!"

Stellar Indian - Darius Robinson

Player Name: Darius Robinson
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
Parents: David and Jackie Robinson
This Years Stats: 22ppg 4rpg 1.5stls 3assists
Coach Lenhart Quote: "Darius has been unbelievable for our Basketball Family over the past two years, he is one of the best scorers I have ever coached!" Forever an Indian - Darius Robinson!
Nickname: DRob
Favorite Sports Hero: Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant
If I Could use one word to describe Coach Lenhart it would be: Obnoxious
People say I look like: Rashad Lewis
My Goal in Sport is: To Be The Best I Can Be
My Goal in life is: To be Successful and have a Wife & Kids


The Following is a personal blog written by your McCook CC Men's Basketball Team, covering their day-to-day lives as both students and athletes at McCook CC. Each week will feature the writings of players. This Week's edition includes blogg from Darius Robinson.

"Life at MCC is very laid back, not a lot to do other than the movie theatre. To pass time by I like to get on my laptop, play basketball, and chill with my friends/teammates. A also like to play on my Ipod touch!"

Stellar Indian - Martin Mlinaric

Player Name: Martin Mlinaric
Hometown: Velika,Gorika Croatia
Parents: Marijan & Sanja Mlinaric
This Years Stats: 5 points 4 rebounds
Coach Lenhart Quote: "Martin is one of the best people I have ever met in my entire life, his work ethic and personality will be deeply missed!" Forever an Indian -Martin Mlinaric!
Favorite Sports Hero: Toni Kukoc
If I Could use one word to describe Coach Lenhart it would be: Legendary
My Goal in Sport is: To Win
My Goal in life is: To Succeed

The Following is a personal blog written by your McCook CC Men's Basketball Team, covering their day-to-day lives as both students and athletes at McCook CC. Each week will feature the writings of players. This Week's edition includes blogg from Martin Mlinaric.

McCook is a small, quiet, town with not much to do. Really makes you focus more on school and basketball. We're all smart so school is not a problem. That's all See You Soon

Stellar Indian - Nick Schneiders

Player Name: Nick Schneiders
Hometown: Dixon, NE
Parents: Paul & Lee Schneiders
Coach Lenhart Quote: "Nick has been one the hardest workers I have ever coached, a great teammate and player for the past two years. Nick will be deeply missed!" Forever an Indian -Nick Schneiders!
Nickname: Nikoli
Favorite Sports Hero: Kobe Bryant
If I Could use one word to describe Coach Lenhart it would be: Childlike
People say I look like: Derwin Davis
My Goal in Sport is: Succeed at Everything I Do
My Goal in life is: Succeed at Everything I Do, and Find Out What I Want to Do!
One thing most people don't know about me is: I have 4 sisters, only boy, I am the Middle Child

Readers Note:

The Following is a personal blog written by your McCook CC Men's Basketball Team, covering their day-to-day lives as both students and athletes at McCook CC. Each week will feature the writings of players. This Week's edition includes blogg from Nick Schneiders.

"I am a second year student and athlete at MCC. Classes here are small and teachers know your name. Being an athlete and a student is tough sometimes but as long as you work with your teacher they will usually work with you. Basketball has been up and down this year, but we were playing our Best Basketball at the Region Tournament which is all you can ask for."

Stellar Indian - George Pollard

Player Name: George Pollard
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Parents: Martin & Teresa Felder
This Years Stats: 8ppg, 3rpg, & 4 assists
Coach Lenhart Quote: "George has been the heart and soul of our team this past year, he has the heart of a Lion, he will be deeply missed next year" Forever an Indian -George Pollard!
Nickname: G Baby
Favorite Sports Hero: Chris Paul
If I Could use one word to describe Coach Lenhart it would be: Crazy
People say I look like: Kyrie Irving
My Goal in Sport is: To Win Conference
My Goal in life is: Be Successful
One thing most people don't know about me is: I'm Tall

Readers Note:

The Following is a personal blog written by your McCook CC Men's Basketball Team, covering their day-to-day lives as both students and athletes at McCook CC. Each week will feature the writings of players. This Week's edition includes blogg from George Pollard.

Life at MCC is chill, calm, cool and collective

MCC Heats Up True Hall Gym vs North Platte

The McCook Community College Men's Basketball team looked to have their hands full vs. the Defending Region IX Champions and National Tournmanet Qualifying North Platte Community College Knights. As always, this is a heated bitter rivalary between the two colleges, both located just over an hour apart from one another. True Hall gymnasium looked to be warm and ready for another heated contest between MCC and NPCC!

The MCC/North Platte game was scheduled to be played on Wednesday January 19th, but the weather and the good lord above had something else in mind. Somebody else had a plan, and that plan was for us to play on Thursday instead of Wednesday, and that's what we did. There was a lot of electricity on campus Wednesday, but after the games were postponed it was like somebody blew a socket out of the entire city of McCook.
Head Coach Lenhart and his basketball family seemed optimistic, but still had the feeling that the air had been taken out of their sails. Boy was he wrong!!!!

Both teams came out guns blazing. After the 2 minutes it looked as if it was going to be a battle the entire 40 minutes. Not the case, MCC took a 12 point lead in the 1st 5 minutes of the game, and North Platte made a push and kept it close for the next few minutes of the game. North Platte Community College came within 4 points with a barage of baskets and free throws by Karol Gruszecki (So. Poland), who led all scorers with 40 points. He got his baskets from everywhere last night, lay ups, 3's, and free throws (shooting 14 of the teams 16 free throws on the night). MCC just didn't have an answer for Gruszecki the entire night.

"We tried to make everything as difficult as possible for Karol and Perrin Ashley (Fr. Indianaplois, IN) tonight, we hope to come up with a different plan for the next time we face North Platte. Karol makes everything look so effortless, and he had an incredible game, Perrin hit a lot of shots late when the game was out of reach and when we let down defensively, which is a little disappointing but we will improve and move on."

The last 10 minutes of the 1st half were all MCC, they put their will on North Platte CC on both ends of the floor. MCC was getting stops and scores, hitting a high percentage of their shots, and just put the hammer down on North Platte to close out the half. During the last 3 minutes MCC was up by as much as 25 points, with NPCC making a small run to cut the lead to 17 points with just over a minute to go in the 1st half. MCC ended the half with a last second lay up by Antonio Dye, on what seemed to be a made basket and a foul, but it was a no call. McCook Community College 64 North Platte Community College 43. For those thinking WOW, that's a lot of points, the 2nd half was even better.

"To be up by 21 points at half-time vs. North Platte at any time is pretty special. We wanted our guys to go away from the half, staying hungry and maintaining our level of play the entire 20 minutes of the 2nd half. I asked my assistant, can North Platte Really outscore us by 22 points this half? He replied, if they do than we need to address some really serious problems," stated Lenhart.

MCC didn't exactly start where they left off, with a few missed baskets and not getting stops. North Platte got to the free throw line 3 out of their first 6 possessions, and you could kind of feel the tide start to shift a little bit. Thankfully for MCC the affect was minimial and the closest North Platte would get the rest of the night was 19 points early in the 2nd half. MCC was red hot from behind the 3 point line for the night making 18 of 32 three pointers they took. MCC went up by as many as 30+ points during the 2nd half, cruising to a 25 point victory. McCook Community College 129 North Platte Community College 104.

MCC had 6 players in double figures, doubling the amount of players in double figures for NPCC. Darius Robinson (So. Jacksonsville, FL) led the Indians with 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assits. Michael Cutright (Fr. Las Vegas, NV) added 19 points and 11 rebounds, Eric Cutright (So. Zwolle, LA) added 18 points and 7 rebounds, Antonio Dye (So. Mishawaka, IN) added 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists, Shawn Tarver (So. Gary, IN) added 17 points and 7 rebounds, and George Pollard (So. Colorado Springs, CO) added 16 points, 11 assists, and 4 rebounds on the night.

"We are very proud of our Basketball Family here at McCommunity College, it was a total team effort. It was a great game for our Community here in McCook to watch and be a part of this special night,and we appreciate all of their great support. We hope to stay even hungrier for our upcoming challenges that lie ahead. We look forward to our game vs. William Penn University on Saturday," Lenhart said.

MCC stays at home for another contest vs William Penn University this Saturday, January 22nd, game time 7:30 pm in True Hall Gymnasium, and another Sub-Region Match-Up will take place in Scottsbluff, NE on Tuesday January 26th Women 5:30 pm and Men at 7:30pm (Mountain Time). Next week is Homecoming week, in which a lot of activities will be taking place leading up to MCC's Contest vs. Northeast Community College, women play at 2:00 pm and Men Follow at 4:00 p.m. The chili cook off will follow after the Men's game!

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.