News

Things are looking pretty good for Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s basketball lately. 

After beating the Delta Pioneers at home, 70-64, Wednesday, Jan. 28, the Centurions (12-8 overall) extended their winning streak to four and moved into second place in the MCCAA North Conference with a 5-1 record, only behind Mid Michigan, which is 5-0 currently.  

Against the Pioneers (1-5 MCCAA North, 4-13 overall), the Centurions established a 19-point lead at one point in the first half but went into halftime only leading by nine, 35-26.  

Midway through the second half, MCC built its lead back up to 15 but once again Delta inched closer, cutting it to a four-point lead after Pioneers guard Bryan Rush Jr. hit a layup with only 14 seconds left in the game.  

Fortunately, the Centurions beat Delta’s full-court press, finding a wide open player in freshman Jahmere Evans (Indianapolis, Ind.), who was waiting right by the basket, collected a long pass and dunked the ball in, solidifying MCC’s lead at 70-64 with six seconds left in the game. 

Centurions Head Coach Zach Ingles said it was mostly his team’s fault for not putting away the Pioneers earlier. 

“We got complacent in the first half. We made a bunch of shots early,” Ingles said. “And then we missed some and our defense suffered and then our rebounding suffered. So those guys (Delta) were going to take advantage of that.” 

Throughout the game, the Centurions displayed great passing, especially inside the paint, which players like sophomore Josiah DeMeester (Grandville, Mich.) and sophomore Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.) took advantage of, scoring eight and 15 points, respectively.  

“We work daily on passing. That’s part of what our offense is predicated on is passing and assists,” Ingles said. “We work on it a lot. We got guys who can run to the basket, so that’s part of our offense. That’s part of what makes it difficult for other teams to deal with.” 

In the first half, the Centurions jumped out to an early 17-10 lead when sophomore Makur Reclow (Louisville, Ky.) came off the bench and slam-dunked a shot that was set up by an assist from freshman teammate Michale Irving III (Indianapolis, Ind.) at the 12:10 mark of the first half. MCC then bumped its lead to 12 after DeMeester took a great bounce pass from Dunn to score while also getting fouled. After sinking the free throw, MCC was up 29-13 with 8:03 remaining in the half.  

The Centurions built their biggest lead of the game three minutes later after Dunn scored on a putback shot, giving them a comfortable 33-13 lead. Delta, however, went on a 13-2 run, putting it back into contention as the half ended. 

Ingles credited young players like Evans and freshman James Browning (Fort Wayne, Ind.) for keeping MCC ahead throughout the game, never relenting to Delta’s continuous comebacks. Browning collected a game-high 11 rebounds and scored nine points. 

“Browning and rebounds, that's just what he does,” Ingles said. “He’s the most talented and undersized center in the conference. We’re happy he’s with us.” 

Ingles said Evans, who came on campus at 6-foot-2 and is now 6-foot-5, is coming into his own and has been a force to reckon with lately. 

“Jahmere has come so far. He is so talented,” Ingles said. “It’s taken him a while to get used to the system, being in college, getting used to living on your own. He’s learning how to play, he’s coming along. He’s a good kid. He’s come so far in such a short period of time.” 

Evans, who also came off the bench, scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds. He said the win against Delta was a complete team effort. 

“We came together in the locker room, and we were able to cut into the middle all game,” Evans said. “We also listened to coach and we kept playing hard. We just wanted to win.” 

The four-game winning streak is the longest one this season for the Centurions. Evans said his team has been playing well together, which makes it fun and, more importantly, successful. 

“We’re just trusting our process, trusting our coach, just focusing on playing in the system,” he said. “I like the brotherhood on this team and how we all come together. Nobody has any bad blood, and we’re not selfish at all.” 

UP NEXT: The Centurions will travel to Petoskey to take on the North Central Michigan College Timberwolves (2-4 MCCAA North, 3-15 overall), Saturday, Jan. 31, with tip off at 3 p.m. 

MCC will then have back-to-back games against the conference’s heavyweights, at Mid Michigan College on Feb. 4 and at home against Bay College Saturday, Feb. 7. Ingles said the next three games will be crucial in the race for the conference crown, especially with Mid Michigan going up against Bay this Saturday, Jan. 31. 

“After NMC on Saturday, that ends the first round (of conference play),” Ingles said. “Then we see what Bay and Mid do and we take care of business. The worst-case scenario is we turn the corner and we’re just one game out of first.” 

RECAP: MCC 89, Muskegon 67 

In a makeup game from last week, the Centurions scored their third-highest point total of the season, beating the Muskegon Jayhawks, 89-67, at home Monday, Jan. 26. 

MCC used a huge first-half scoring output to establish dominance in the game, outscoring Muskegon 47-25. In the second half, the Centurions kept pace with the Jayhawks (3-3 MCCAA North, 9-10 overall), with each team scoring 42 points.  

All but one player on the Centurions’ 16-person team scored in this game, with Dunn and Evans both leading the team with 10 points. Dunn also led the team in rebounding with eight. Sophomore Zhian Briggs (Augusta, Georgia) pitched in nine assists while scoring four points. 

MCC did well from the 3-point line, shooting 17-of-30 (56.7%) while Delta struggled, shooting only 6-of-24 (25%). MCC’s overall shooting was an impressive 53.4% (31-58) and won the battle of statistics in rebounds (42-37) and assists (20-12), while Delta won the turnover battle (9-19) and scored 24 points off turnovers to MCC’s 10. The Pioneers also had 14 second-chance points to the Centurions’ six.