Coming into Monday’s matchup with Central College’s junior varsity squad, Marshalltown Community College men’s basketball was in need of a pick-me-up. The Tigers had lost their last five games and went from 8-7 to 8-12 on the season, including a frustrating 58-56 road loss to Southeastern Community College on Wednesday. With a road trip to NJCAA Division I No. 6 Indian Hills this coming Saturday, a confidence-building comfortable win over the Dutch was a big goal.

In that case, mission accomplished — with a 94-59 win over the Dutch to improve to 9-12 on the season.

Right out of the gate, Flack said he was impressed with the Dutch’s gameplan for defending the Tigers and the way their JV team was coached.

“I thought that was as well-coached of a JV team as we’ve seen,” Flack said. “I thought they had a good game plan for us and they executed that pretty well.

“We’ve had a tough go of it the last couple weeks and sometimes it’s hard to get up for those games two days after a loss.”

Dealing with a zone defense was good for the Tigers, Flack said. Marshalltown led early and often with contributions from all angles, but the score was only 42-32 at the halftime break. Adapting their inside-out offensive attack and crashing the lane was key to any sort of success, Flack said, and it worked well for big man Zion Obanla. Scoring 12 points in the first half and 16 in the second half for a game-high 28 points — matching his career high — he was a key presence in the paint for the Tigers. Crashing the glass and picking up offensive rebounds left and right, he controlled the game in a lot of ways for Marshalltown and helped the Tigers pull away in the second half.

Flack said he liked the process from the Tigers.

“That was really good for us, to have to go against [a zone defense],” Flack said. “We just haven’t seen as much of that recently. Once we started throwing the ball inside and then looking opposite, good things started happening for us. I think we needed that.”

Obanla was one of two MCC players to hit double figures, as Mekki Sisk scored 14 points. Trey Sinegal and Tyler Burrows scored nine points apiece, while Or Sundjyvsky scored eight. Gedeon Shango scored seven and Michael Barell scored six, while West Marshall ’22 graduate Joey Tollefson added five points.

Tollefson has worked his way into the Tigers’ regular rotation after not seeing much time in the first half of the season as he adjusted to the college game. Starting in the past five games, a focus on the little things has led to his increased role.

Tollefson said that playing hard on the defensive end (including taking a number of charges in the past few weeks) has been fun and has been the easiest way for him to help the Tigers.

“It’s just about doing what’s best for the team every day in practice, boxing out and making the right play,” Tollefson said. “It’s a lot of fun, it’s a big energy role which I love to have. Taking charges is what I’ve always done going back to high school.”

After picking up a strong win and ending the game with a 52-point second half, the Tigers now have to quickly turn around and prepare for a top-10 Iowa Community College Athletic Conference opponent in the Warriors of Indian Hills. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Flack said a good practice Tuesday will be crucial to MCC’s chances.

“They’re a team that can really shoot it, they can throw a lot of guys at you,” Flack said. “At the same time, it’s a college basketball game. It’s a great atmosphere.

“If we go in there and we play hard, play as a team and take care of the basketball — we have to give ourselves chances, and I think if we do those things we’ll be OK.”