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MCC withstands John Wood

Tigers topple Trail Blazers in thriller, 76-74

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Marshalltown Community College’s Eric Amandio (14) goes up for the dunk during the first half of Friday’s game against John Wood Community College during the Emerson Classic at MCC. Amandio led the Tigers with 17 points in their 76-74 win.

The Marshalltown Community College men’s basketball team earned its first home win against John Wood CC 76-74 in the first day of the Emerson Classic on Friday.

At the start of the game, John Wood took an early 10-point lead with an 8-2 run to go up 26-16.

“John Wood is so well-coached,” MCC head coach Ryan Flack said. “Their kids play really hard so we knew it would be a game of runs and they were going to make some. It was just important for us to go and defend. We really wanted to offensively get later in the clock. I thought the other day we played too fast at times and I still thought tonight we did too. It was just staying poised and making sure our guys defend and get stops.”

The Tigers had a late surge before the end of the half with an 11-3 run. At the helm of the run was Eric Amandio, who scored nine of his 17 points in the run that gave the Tigers a 40-35 lead at halftime.

“Eric had a really good night for us,” Flack said. “We needed Eric to step up as well as others, in which case I thought that everyone who played contributed well with Quavon Blackwood [out], he didn’t play tonight because of an ankle sprain from the other night. Eric is a guy we count on regularly but tonight he came in and got some outside shots for us. He’s probably a driver first but I thought he did a really nice job and was able to have a lot of confidence.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

In the second half, John Wood stayed in the game by staying aggressive in the paint on both offense and defense as the Trail Blazers outrebounded MCC 35-23 and scored 28 points in the paint.

“They were running a lot of flare screens and down screens and that was an emphasis,” Flack said. “They are so well-coached and a good screening team. We knew they were doing a lot of that and I thought at times we were almost overhelping and it really made it tough for our guys. We became a little confused and I thought communication wasn’t quite as good. We were switching, we weren’t sure if we were switching or a guy was maybe extending a screen or whatever the case was. I just thought our communication wasn’t as good and they execute very well.”

Trailing 65-56, John Wood went on a 12-2 run take a brief 69-67 lead, but the Tigers were able to answer with a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead by the final minute of the game.

Despite holding off multiple John Wood runs and the Trail Blazers’ aggressiveness in the paint the biggest difference in the night was free throws. John Wood missed 15 free throws shooting 12-for-27 at the free-throw line while MCC was 12-for-19 at the free-throw line.

“The biggest positive is I thought we shared the ball for the most part in the first half and even in the second half,” Flack said. “I thought there were a few possessions where there were some silly errors. A little bit of it was the personnel on the floor which I’ll take the blame for that just in terms of what we were trying to do didn’t work and where certain guys were.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

“The biggest takeaway is that a win is a win. Credit to John Wood, I thought those guys played really hard just so well-coached. A win is a win and we have just get ready for a good Independence team tomorrow night.”

The Tigers will host Independence (Kan.) on the second day of the Emerson Classic with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.

Emerson Classic

At Marshalltown Community College

Friday’s Scores

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

WOMEN

Iowa Lakes 74, Central (Neb.) 40

Marshalltown CC 68, DMACC 64

MEN

Iowa Lakes 93, Independence (Kan.) 87

Marshalltown CC 76, John Wood (Ill.) 74

Saturday’s Games

WOMEN

1 p.m. — DMACC vs. Central (Neb.)

5 p.m. — MCC vs. Iowa Lakes

MEN

3 p.m. — Iowa Lakes vs. John Wood

7 p.m. — MCC vs. Independence (Kan.)

——

MEN

Marshalltown CC 76, John Wood CC 75

JOHN WOOD (1-6) — Rumbo 8-16 0-0 20, Jackson 1-6 0-0 2, Bryson 3-7 4-6 12, Bevans 6-13 4-12 16, Shoot 3-8 3-4 11, Wright 4-4 1-5 9, McKinney 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 2-2 0-0 4. TOTALS 27-56 12-27 74.

MCC (2-5) — Jacobs 3-6 4-4 10, Scott 6-13 1-3 14, Amandio 7-10 0-1 17, Smith 1-3 2-2 5, Arou 1-1 0-0 2, Wilson 2-6 0-0 4, Paige 3-4 2-3 9, Keeling 5-9 3-6 15. TOTALS 28-52 12-19 76.

Halftime–MCC 40-35. 3-Point Goals–John Wood 8-19 (Rumbo 4-8, Bryson 2-3, Shoot 2-6, Jackson 0-2); MCC 8-16 (Amandio 3-5, Keeling 2-3, Paige 1-1, Smith 1-2, Scott 1-4, Wilson 0-1). Rebounds–John Wood 35 (Bevans 12); MCC 23 (Wilson 8). Assists–John Wood 8 (Jackson 4); MCC 4 (Smith 2). Total Fouls–John Wood 18, MCC 16. Fouled Out–none. Technical Foul–Wilson.

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