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Indian title hopes disappear amid Southeast 'Storm'
BEATRICE, Neb. — The McCook Community College men got down by 19 points in the first half, applied pressure defense to get within striking distance but couldn’t overcome the deficit to drop an 89-79 decision to Southeast Community College Tuesday.
“We didn’t come ready to play mentally or physically and Southeast did,” MCC coach Brandon Lenhart said.
The Indians entered the game with a 3-1 mark in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference with a chance to tie North Platte, but the loss gives the title to the Knights.
“Our preparation the day before and on game day was nonexistent and we carried that over to tonight, and that’s a reflection of the head coach,” Lenhart said.
Freshman Tyrek Battle-Holley (Jersey City, N.J.) and sophomore Peanut Cunningham (Louisville, Kent.) led MCC with 21 points.
Freshman Mardrez McBride (Augusta, Ga.) scored 17 and sophomore Antonije Petrovic (Pancevo, Serbia) scored nine points.
Sophomore Ron Rice (New York, N.Y.) led MCC with 11 rebounds, Cunningham had nine.
Southeast shot 42.2 percent from the floor, 41.4 percent from the 3-point line, and 71.9 percent from the line.
The Storm outrebounded the Indians 49-39.
MCC shot 40.8 percent from the floor, 38.1 percent from distance and made just 13 of 22 free throws (59.1 percent).
The Storm close out the season at 12-16.
MCC falls to 11-18 overall and 3-2 in NCCAC.
“Our team will be better for it and moving forward, less than 24 hours to get prepared for Central,” Lenhart said.
The Indians close out the regular season Wednesday at home at 7 p.m. against Central Community College.
MCC, 3-9 in the south sub-region, will open Region IX tournament play this weekend as the lowest seed among the seven teams.
Two region games Tuesday will decide the final seeding.
North Platte (22-3, 9-2) was at Western Nebraska (22-7, 9-2) Tuesday with the winner to gain the top seed, and a first-round bye.
MCC will travel to whoever loses that game on Friday or Saturday.
The other Tuesday region game between Otero Junior College (20-8, 6-5) and Trinidad State (18-9, 5-6) will determine the third and fourth seeds.
Northeastern Community College (12-17, 4-8) is the fifth seed, Lamar Community College (16-14, 4-8) is the sixth seed.
Watch for more results on Thursday.