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MCC men draw familiar foe in Region IX Tourney
Some basketball followers will always say it's tough to beat a team three times during the season.
The McCook Community College men's squad hope that doesn't ring true Saturday.
The Indians head to Sheridan, Wyo., to compete in the annual National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region IX Men's Tournament. McCook C.C. is set to face a familiar foe in Northeastern Junior College of Sterling, Colo., in first-round action Saturday, March 6, at 7 p.m. CST. The Region IX men's tournament games will be played in the Bruce Hoffman Golden Dome on the Sheridan College campus.
Everyone's even
MCC has beaten Northeastern twice this season, according to head coach Brandon Lenhart. The Indians coach doesn't think his team will dismiss the Plainsmen in Saturday's tournament opener.
"Everybody's 0-0 and we have as good a chance as anybody to be successful in the region tournament, and we're going up there to win the region tournament," Lenhart said. "We fully believe that we can accomplish our biggest goals and dreams.
"I think we're a little more hungry than we've ever been. I think that they understand the magnitude of everything that's happening. I think that they also understand that everybody is 0-0 and we really have to come ready to play and be locked in and ready to go."
The NJCAA) sanctions post-season region tournaments all over the U.S. Region tournament champions qualify for the NJCAA Men's National Championship Tournament at Hutchinson, Kan. March 16-20.
The Region IX Tournament has 16 teams representing two-year colleges from Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
Region IX regular-season competition is split into four sub-regions. McCook C.C. competes in the East sub-region with North Platte Community College, Northeast C.C. of Norfolk and Western Nebraska C.C. of Scottsbluff. Tournament seeds are determined by the sub-region standings at the end of regular-season play.
MCC third seed from East sub-region
McCook enters the tournament as the third seed from the East sub-region, while Northeastern is the second seed from the South.
The Indians are enjoying one of their best seasons in many years. Coach Lenhart's squad gained their 20th win in the regular-season finale, a 97-93 double-overtime win over Trinidad (Colo.) State at the True Hall gym in McCook last Monday evening.
Lenhart said the two teams battled all the way, with a tie game at half. The MCC coach said his team should have won the contest in regulation play, but Trinidad set up a play and hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to tie the score and send the game into extra play. Lenhart said Trinidad scored at the end of the first overtime period to tie the score, and MCC missed a buzzer-beating shot to force the second overtime, where McCook dominated.
"We came away victorious because we were the tougher team in the second half," Lenhart said. "We went to the second overtime and gutted it out. We got stops when we needed to get stops, we got rebounds and knocked down free throws."
Hot MCC charity shooters
The Indians hit 27 of 30 free throws against Trinidad, a very hot 90 percent.
"We've been shooting free throws pretty well all year, and we hope that continues," Lenhart said.
Lenhart said McCook C.C., with a 20-10 record, is in the top five record-wise in the Region IX men's field. He looks for the tournament hosts from Sheridan, plus Wyoming's Casper College and Northwest of Powell, plus North Platte and Western Nebraska C.C. to be among the teams to beat -- along with his Indians. But there won't be any easy games throughout the five days of the competition.
"I think it's just going to be a battle," Lenhart said. "I think it's just wide open. Teams just really have to come in ready and prepared. It's going to be fun."
Lenhart labeled the Region IX meet as a "national tournament-type atmosphere" with the 16 tough teams.
Magical win plateau
The MCC coach said the Indians haven't reached 20 wins in a season since the 2001-02 campaign under former head coach Lance Creech. Creech, who also played for MCC, is now the head men's basketball coach at Hastings College.
"We're real proud of winning 20 games," Lenhart said. "That benchmark is big for any college program The schedule that we played this year has been a tough one, but it's been rewarding. It put us in a lot of different situations this year. I think we're very well prepared from the experiences that we've had over the past season, but we have to be locked in and ready to go come Saturday, because it's win or go home.
"I like our chances, I like this team, I like how they're preparing themselves. They are pretty motivated. We have a two-game win streak, so we're going in with a little momentum."
Antonio Dye, 6-1 freshman guard from Indiana, leads the Indians with an average of 20.2 points per game, fourth in Region IX. Dye also leads the region with an average of 2.6 steals per contest. Dye is third (8.4) and teammate Marcus Landry seventh (7.7) in rebounds per game. Landry is a 6-6 sophomore from Louisiana.
Long road trip
Coach Lenhart planned to an an early-morning workout Friday before the team leaves for Sheridan, a 600-mile drive one way. Sheridan is located in the north-central part of Wyoming near the Montana border.
Lenhart has a 50-43 overall record in his third year heading the MCC men's program. Last year, the Indians beat Northwest of Wyoming on a last-second shot in first-round Region IX tournament play, before losing in the quarterfinals. He said last year's situation is identical to last year, when Northwest was a second seed and MCC seeded third.
"It was the first time in a long time, I think, that McCook won a first-round Region IX game," he said. "We want to take another step this year, but you just don't ever know how it will work out. You can't have an off-night. If you have an off-night you've got some serious problems. There is no margin for error."