Indians score tough 66-64 conquest of Southeast

LINCOLN , Neb. – The McCook Community College men held on for a 66-64 win over Southeast Community College Monday night.

MCC came out in the first half and led by 21 points right before intermission and were up 38-23 at the half.

“When we put 40 minutes together we are going to be really tough to beat,” said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. “We just haven’t done that yet this year.”

The coach said on Friday he thought the team played 34 minutes of really good basketball in a 74-69 loss at home to Western Nebraska.

“Tonight I thought we played around 28 minutes of good basketball,” said Brandl.

MCC only shot 32.4 percent from the field in the first half (three of nine 3-pointers), but had nine more shots that the Bobcats.

MCC also made 11 of 12 first-half free throws (91.7 percent) and only turned the ball over five times.

“It was good to see us make some free throws in the first half but second half and down the stretch it was a different story,” said Brandl.

The Indians were just nine of 16 from the line in the second half (56.3 percent) and finished the game making 20 of 28 (71.4 percent.) MCC did outscore Southeast 20-7 from the free throw line.

Southeast made just seven of 21 shots from the free-throw line (33.3 percent).

Second-half turnovers were also a factor in the Southeast comeback and both teams finished with 18.

“18 turnovers is not us,” said Brandl. “Especially in the second half having 13 kept them in the game and prevented us from really pushing ahead.”

Freshman Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) led MCC with 18 points.

Sophomore Martel Evans (Omaha Creighton Prep) put in 12 and sophomore Ty Foster (Bronx, N.Y.) scored nine.

Sophomore Zeki Cavli (Bodrum, Turkey) led MCC with four assists and scored seven points.