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Tigers dash past Lakers

MCC men use 9-0 run to put away Iowa Lakes

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College forward Mohamed Thiam (4) goes up for a dunk attempt while Iowa Lakes freshman Solomon Clayton contests during the second half of the Tigers’ win over the Lakers on Wednesday night.

On the surface, an 84-74 win for the Marshalltown Community College men’s basketball team over Iowa Lakes Community College on Wednesday seems like a comfortable victory, but it truly was a back-and-forth affair between the Tigers and Lakers.

With just under seven minutes left in the game, Iowa Lakes actually owned a one-point advantage, and with roughly five minutes left the game was tied at 68, but then a spark ignited a flame from the Tiger men.

Mohamed Thiam made the front end of a trip to the free-throw line to put MCC up one, but after missing the second shot Oscar Kao didn’t give up on the play and caused a Laker turnover. Then Kelton Edwards hit a two-pointer, followed by threes from Kao and JJ Foster after defensive stops, and all of a sudden the Tiger were up 77-68.

Marshalltown head coach Brynjar Brynjarsson said it was the play from his bench on the day, specifically Edwards and Foster, that led the team to victory on Wednesday.

“It was nice to see JJ come in and knock down some shots, Kelton came in and did the same thing,” he said. “The story is those two coming in off the bench and giving us 17 from Kelton and JJ with a nine-point effort.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College sophomore Berk Karadan (33) sends up a shot from behind the arc during the second half of the Tigers’ win over Iowa Lakes on Wednesday.

Edwards, who was coming off a career-high 21 points in the team’s win against Moberly Area Community College last Saturday, said what got that big run going was a great defensive effort from the team.

“It all starts on defense. You get some stops, you get the energy going and everybody seems wide open and starts knocking down shots,” he said. “That’s how you put your foot on their neck and take the lead.”

While the Tigers (10-5) came away with a double-digit victory over the Lakers (9-4), Brynjarsson said he feels fortunate to pull one out on Wednesday because of the quality of opponent they faced.

“They are a good basketball team and they are going to win some games,” Brynjarsson said of Iowa Lakes. “They are well coached, they are organized and they have a lot of stuff to them. They had five guys in double figures and they are hard to guard. At times I thought they outplayed us a little bit, but we made some shots with about four minutes left to take the lead and held onto it, but we could have handled it a little better down the stretch.”

Thiam finished with 25 points to lead all scorers on Wednesday, followed by Edwards with 17 and Kao and Foster with nine each.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Brynjarsson said Kao, who was recently named ICCAC Player of the Week for last week, didn’t quite have his shot against the Lakers but he got it done when it counted most.

“Oscar struggled a little bit but knocked down a crucial three there to put us up by nine,” he said.

As for Thiam, he exceeded his season average of 20 points and 10 rebounds with a double-double of 25 points and 11 boards, and Brynjarsson said the most important thing he brings to the table is a consistent effort.

“He is a good player and that’s what good player do, they stay consistent,” Brynjarsson said. “Mohamed made some good plays and made some tough shots, but I also thought he took too many tough shots. Especially early on in the first half, second half he was fantastic. He played his role and did what he needed to do and got other guys involved on top of that.”

Edwards is starting to show a strong level of consistency as well, as the freshman has scored in the double digits each of the last three games. Edwards said now that he has 15 games under his belt at this level, he is starting to get a feel for the college game.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“I am way more comfortable than I was at the beginning of the season,” he said. “It’s starting to get a little bit more comfortable.”

After a tough 0-3 start to December, the Tigers finished strong with two wins to reach the double-digit win column before heading out for the winter break. Brynjarsson said getting the win on Wednesday was crucial to his team’s development, and he looks forward to stepping back out on the court come January.

“We talked about getting this one and going 10-5 before the break,” he said. “Getting our batteries recharged a little bit and come back, get our composure back in the sense of what did we did well this semester, what did we do a poor job of so we can fix that in the few days of practice before our first game back on January 8th.

“I am excited to get these guys back, they have been a great group to coach. Probably one of my favorite teams to be around on a daily basis,” Brynjarsson continued. “We had a tough stretch there where we played three games in Illinois in 27 hours, and not only that we had to finish it off by playing Moberly in that last game but I thought we played very well.”

The Tiger men next return to action on Jan. 8 when they welcome in the Clarke University junior varsity squad for a game on the MCC campus.

Marshalltown CC 84, Iowa Lakes CC 74

IOWA LAKES CC (9-4) — Joiner 5-8 0-0 10, McI

lravy 1-6 0-0 2, Beisch 7-17 0-2 16, Clayton 7-9 4-5 18, Rau 1-5 9-10 11, Rogers 0-0 0-0 0, Kyles 1-2 0-0 3, Guyton 0-0 0-0 0, Winter 0-0 0-0 0, Girardi 0-1 0-0 0, Wagner 4-10 3-4 14. TOTALS 26-58 16-21 74.

MARSHALLTOWN CC (10-5) — Kao 3-13 0-0 9, Thiam 9-16 5-10 25, Word 1-5 4-4 6, Vidovic 0-2 0-0 0, Lane 1-2 1-4 3, Foster 3-6 1-2 9, Ting 0-1 3-3 3, Ndiaye 1-2 2-2 4, Edwards 5-8 7-7 17, Karadan 3-4 0-0 8. TOTALS 26-59 23-32 84.

Halftime–Tied at 38. 3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 6-18 (Wagner 3-7, Beisch 2-6, Kyles 1-1), MCC 9-27 (Kao 3-11, Karadan 2-3, Foster 2-4, Thiam 2-4). Assists–Iowa Lakes 8 (Joiner 3), MCC 14 (Word 5). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 35 (Clayton 7), MCC 33 (Thiam 11). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 23, MCC 19. Fouled Out–Clayton.

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