The Tigers:

• forced 12 turnovers

• outrebounded Iowa Lakes 15-13, and

• shot 50 percent from the field.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

MCC led by only two.

Iowa Lakes eliminated some of the mistakes it made in the first half, won the battle of the boards and shot even better in the second half on its way to an 88-77 victory over the MCC men on Wednesday night at the Student Activity Center, leaving the Tigers with their sixth-straight loss.

Five players scored in double figures for the Lakers (10-3), who shot better than 61 percent (22-for-36) from the field in the second half thanks to the ability to attack the basket by breaking down Marshalltown’s zone defense from the inside-out.

The same half-court press and 2-3 zone defensive alignment that had worked out so well in MCC’s favor in the first half fell apart after the break.

“We were getting exactly what we wanted, it was probably the best half we’ve played all year quite honestly,” Flack said of the first half. “We were forcing turnovers and getting stops the way we wanted. We wanted to get out of [the press], honestly, but it was working so well early for us and keeping us right where we wanted to be so we kept it.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The Tigers (4-12) took a 38-36 lead into the locker room after its strong first half, but they were unable to duplicate it. Iowa Lakes attacked MCC’s defense from the inside-out, getting layups or staying patient and knocking down its 3-point attempts. The Lakers shot 5-for-12 from distance in the second half and outscored Marshalltown 52-39 after the intermission.

“In the second half they were running a guy down the middle and I thought we were late a lot on our rotations and I didn’t think our communication was as good as it was [in the first half],” said Flack. “A team goes on a run and either you’re going to match that or not, and I thought we went several empty possessions there without anything.”

The Tigers couldn’t get stops on defense in the second half and didn’t score consecutive baskets until the midway point. By that time, Iowa Lakes had opened up a double-digit advantage.

MCC sophomore guard Jaylin Scott got hot in the second half and scored 19 of his game-high 23 points after the break, but it wasn’t enough to drive the Tigers to a comeback. His 3-pointer made it a nine-point game — 63-54 — with 10:06 remaining before Iowa Lakes responded with three-straight 3-pointers.

Marshalltown made turnovers on two of its next three possessions to make the comeback nearly impossible.

“We just didn’t have a lot of flow to us, we were easy to guard, we didn’t get the defense to shift enough,” Flack said. “Our off-the-ball movement was not very good.

“I thought the first half was our best half, and we’ve been playing better the last four games, it’s just our margin for error is not very big.”

Caleb Jacobs scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half, and he finished with six rebounds and four steals for MCC. Eric Amandio added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Justin Brookens led Iowa Lakes with 19 points, Xavier Evans had 15 points off the bench, while Malcolm Clayton and Keshawn Pegues added 12 points aiece. Boston Grimes netted 11 points for the Lakers.

Marshalltown closes out its pre-holiday schedule with this weekend’s William Bear Tournament hosted by Highland CC in Freeport, Ill.

Iowa Lakes CC 88, Marshalltown CC 77

IOWA LAKES (10-3) — Clayton 5-8 0-1 12, Brookens 7-10 1-1 19, Grimes 5-8 0-0 11, Pegues 6-11 0-0 12, Cook 4-6 1-3 9, Carlson 1-5 0-0 3, Kikwaki 1-7 1-2 3, English 2-2 0-0 4, Reynolds 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 6-8 1-1 15. TOTALS 37-65 4-8 88.

MCC (4-12) — Jacobs 5-10 6-6 17, Scott 7-17 6-9 23, Amandio 5-12 1-2 14, Smith 1-5 4-4 6, Arou 0-1 2-2 2, Broadie 0-2 0-0 0, Blackwood 2-2 0-0 5, Paige 2-3 0-2 4, Philip 2-2 2-6 6. TOTALS 24-54 21-31 77.

Halftime–MCC 38-36. 3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 10-25 (Brookens 4-7, Evans 2-4, Clayton 2-5, Carlson 1-3, Grimes 1-4, Pegues 0-1, Kikwaki 0-1), MCC 8-24 (Amandio 3-5, Scott 3-10, Blackwood 1-1, Jacobs 1-2, Broadie 0-2, Smith 0-4). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 31 (Pegues 10), MCC 25 (Amandio 7). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 20, MCC 14. Fouled Out–Kikwaki.