T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown Community College freshman Pavle Djeric (15) shoots over Rock Valley’s Adam Brown (12) during the first half of Friday’s game at the Emerson Classic inside the Student Activity Center.

Three nights after suffering a home loss to the Central College junior varsity, the Marshalltown Community College men’s basketball team opened the Emerson Classic on a mission.

On Friday night, the Tigers accomplished what they’d set out to do and scored their first home-court win because of it.

Antoine Glasper matched his career-high with 15 points and MCC snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Rock Valley College 65-57 on Friday night inside the Student Activity Center, tipping off the two-day Emerson Classic the right way.

The Tigers (2-5) simply wanted to be tougher than they felt they were in Tuesday’s home loss to the Central JV, and head coach Ryan Flack said his team achieved that goal.

“Credit to our guys, I thought we finally came out and we wanted to defend, we wanted to be tough, we wanted to have a little edge to us,” Flack said. “We shouldn’t be satisfied. With all respect to the JV teams that we play, everybody knows — being blunt about it — those are wins, and it’s embarrassing for our program and our players. So I think the guys felt embarrassed.”

The attitude adjustment paid dividends throughout the game, but not until the final horn was the outcome certain. Rock Valley — coached by former MCC assistant Nick Ramos — refused to fall apart on separate occasions when it fell behind by double digits.

The Tigers used three-straight 3-pointers to pull in front 27-14 before a Ramos timeout helped the Golden Eagles (2-3) settle themselves for a comeback. Rock Valley scored the next eight points to pull within 27-22, and MCC eventually took a 32-25 lead into halftime.

MCC shot 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from 3-point range in the first half but couldn’t duplicate it, going 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from distance after the break.

A lot of the Tigers’ offensive possessions went deep into the shot clock, which caused some stressful moments despite MCC having led by as many as 18.

Marshalltown’s 55-39 lead was erased by nine consecutive points by the Golden Eagles, who eventually cut the margin to seven with 1:52 remaining.

The Tigers got tripped up by RVC’s full-court pressure, but made more than enough free throws to finish the job. A fadeaway jumper by Glasper with 1:04 left on the clock followed up a three-point play by Sean Conway, regaining a nine-point edge for the hometown team.

“We knew a lot of what they were going to do, but at the same time it was really more about us playing as hard as we could,” said Flack. “I thought their pressure got to us just a little bit there.”

MCC committed just 14 turnovers and shot 16-of-20 (80 percent) from the free-throw line, getting more makes than Rock Valley (13-for-15) got attempts.

The Golden Eagles shot just 24 percent (6-of-25) from 3-point range and couldn’t make enough to complete their comeback attempt.

Glasper, who scored his career-high for the second-straight game, was joined in double figures by Tom Guma with 12 points and Tre’von Coney with 10 points off the bench. Hassan Bush added seven points and eight rebounds, Tristan Christopher finished with five points, and Pavle Djeric added four points and a team-leading 12 rebounds.

“I’m really just excited for our guys because I thought we needed this in the worst way and some positivity around us,” Flack said, “and we got that tonight.”

JT Samuels scored a game-high 20 points to lead Rock Valley, while Jajuan Cozark finished with 13 points and six boards.

MCC closes out the two-day Emerson Classic with Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Bryant & Stratton. The 25th-ranked Bobcats (3-2) beat Iowa Lakes 85-64 in Friday’s other game.