Iowa Lakes landed an early haymaker and the Marshalltown Community College men’s basketball team never recovered.

The visiting Lakers ended their 10-game-losing streak against the last team they beat, toppling the host Tigers 65-55 on Wednesday night inside the Student Activity Center.

Iowa Lakes (2-10) defeated MCC 75-72 in both teams’ season opener on Friday, Oct. 31, in Estherville, but that was the last time the Lakers had won until Wednesday. Marshalltown (4-10) saw its offense return towards the mean after scoring a season-high 96 points in Saturday’s win over Lake Region State College (N.D.) at the Indian Hills Tournament.

The Tigers, whose offense ranks 177th out of 186 NJCAA Division I teams in the country, fell well short of their season average (66.9) with Wednesday’s disheartening defeat.

“Our offense was really bad,” said MCC head coach Ryan Flack. “We were very selfish. We struggled to hit shots.”

MCC shot 37.3 percent from the field (22-of-59) and just 22.7 percent from 3-point range (5-of-22) in sustaining its second loss of the season to the Lakers.

A 12-0 run to start the game by Iowa Lakes didn’t help the Tigers’ case, either.

“They played well, credit to them,” Flack said. “I thought they just played harder at the end of the day, you know, and they’ve had a tough year themselves. But their two wins on the year are against us.”

MCC fell behind by as many as 14 points in the first half and trailed 34-21 at the break before fighting all the way back to within five, 49-44, with 9:20 left to play. Tre’Von Coney cashed a 3-pointer from the win to cut the margin down to five, but Iowa Lakes countered with an 11-2 surge that spelled the end for the Tigers.

The Lakers were just 2-of-6 at the free-throw line inside the final five minutes, so it wasn’t freebies that kept MCC at bay. The Tigers just missed too many shots to make up any ground.

“I felt like so many times we were expecting a foul and we just couldn’t make layups, and I think that’s a direct correlation of our ability to mentally be focused for the game,” said Flack. “I think it’s just a direct correlation with how we prepare mentally.

“We wanted to make a play, but it was about ‘me.’ It was the most selfish performance I’ve seen from this group all year, and that’s probably the most disappointing part.”

Iowa Lakes guard Jermaine Freeman, the 15th-leading scorer in NJCAA Division II, got 19 points to lead his team to victory. Jack Wadlington added 10 points off the bench, Steven Martinez added nine points, while Timothy Ofesi finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

Hassan Bush scored a team-leading 17 points for the Tigers, while Tristan Christopher finished with 13. Coney came away with nine, but MCC got just seven points from its bench.

“Unfortunately we’ve got some injuries and we’ve got a couple kids that quit,” Flack said. “I’d rather have the guys that want to be here. That’s probably an excuse at this point, but it’s going to be a long year. It’s going to be very uphill.”

The Tigers got outrebounded 45-28 but committed just nine turnovers to the Lakers’ 18. Iowa Lakes simply shot better, going 9-for-23 from 3-point land led by Freeman’s 4-for-8 performance from deep.

Marshalltown is off for the weekend before visiting Kansas City Kansas CC on Monday night. The Tigers entertain NIACC next Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m.

Iowa Lakes 65, MCC 55

IOWA LAKES (2-10) — Freeman 7-12 1-1 19, Forde 4-8 0-2 8, Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Martinez 3-6 1-2 9, Ofesi 4-10 0-1 8, Gagnon 1-3 0-0 3, Maina 0-2 0-0 0, Wadlington 3-5 2-4 10, Castro 1-5 0-0 2, Preiser 3-3 0-0 6. TOTALS 26-56 4-10 65.

MCC (4-10) — Coney 4-11 0-1 9, Christopher 5-12 2-2 13, Guma 0-3 0-0 0, Bush 8-15 0-0 17, Glasper 3-9 2-2 9, Conway 0-3 0-0 0, Lieuw-On 0-1 0-0 0, St. Vil 0-2 2-2 2, Idrissi 2-3 0-0 5. TOTALS 22-59 6-7 55.

Halftime–Iowa Lakes 34-21. 3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 9-23 (Freeman 4-8, Wadlington 2-2, Martinez 2-3, Gagnon 1-3, Harris 0-2, Maina 0-2, Castro 0-3), MCC 5-22 (Idrissi 1-1, Bush 1-2, Christopher 1-3, Glasper 1-5, Coney 1-7, Conway 0-1, Lieuw-On 0-1, Guma 0-2). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 45 (Martinez, Ofesi 7), MCC 28 (Guma 6). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 12, MCC 15. Fouled Out–none.