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Sometimes in a loss, a team finds itself a little and shows its potential against tough odds. 

After going up against one MCCAA North Conference heavyweight — Bay College (1-1 MCCAA North, 12-4 overall) – and earning a surprise victory (71-54 on Jan. 10) — the Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s basketball team was faced with another tall task, taking on another conference elite team in Mid Michigan College (2-0 MCCAA North, 12-4 overall) at home, Wednesday, Jan. 14. 

Though the Centurions (1-1 MCCAA North, 8-8 overall) lost 91-78, it was the team’s never-say-die attitude and second-half push to come back that told the real story in what turned out to be a physical and highly emotional game. 

Centurions head coach Zach Ingles described the matchup as “chippy,” much like the vintage Boston Celtics-Detroit Pistons rivalry when the Pistons were known as the “Bad Boys,” as all the emotions, drama and even technical fouls, provided high entertainment for a packed crowd. 

Ingles said what his Centurions showed in the second half against the conference’s best team made him most proud of his team. 

“(The Lakers) know we’re here,” he said. “Right now, it’s early, but they’ve established themselves as one of the top teams in the league, but we showed we can just keep going.” 

Going into halftime down 49-28, the game was teetering on getting out of hand. However, Ingles’ team readjusted its tactics and began clawing back into contention in the second half.  

With a 70-53 deficit halfway through the second half, MCC freshman Jahmere Evans (Indianapolis, Ind.) took a crisp pass from fellow freshman Joel Washington (Gainesville, Fla.) at the top of the key and nailed a three-point shot to cut the Lakers’ lead to 14 points, giving the Centurions hope of a comeback.  

With six minutes left, the Centurions then cut it to a 10-point lead (75-65) when sophomore Zhian Briggs (Augusta, Ga.) drove to the basket, sinking a shot as he got fouled. Though he missed the free throw, Briggs got MCC back as close as it was since the beginning of the game.  

The Centurions’ momentum was scuddled, however, by back-to-back fouls with the Lakers’ Zack Parks (Lake Orion, Mich.) and Amonti Greene (Mount Pleasant, Mich.) sinking two free throws each, giving Mid Michigan a 79-65 lead with 5:20 to go. 

Fouls and missed shots by MCC halted any other chance for a comeback, however, allowing the Lakers to push their lead up to 14 again to 87-73 with under a minute to go.  

The Centurions outscored the Lakers 50-42 in the second half. With his young group of players, Ingles said Evans and Washington, who scored 17 and 8 points, respectively, off the bench, will be key for the team’s success going forward. 

“We’ve really been working with Jahmere and I was proud of his response,” Ingles said. “He showed a bit of toughness. Also Joel, these two are a huge part of our team going forward, so I was happy to see them play good minutes in a big game with a big crowd that showed up. That was fun for us.” 

Ingles believes the loss was a result of a first-half collapse in gameplan, which led to Mid Michigan jumping out to a comfortable lead before half, with players like Vynce Overshown (Hammond, Ind.) shooting 3-for-5 from the three-point line and Jaden Clark (Chicago, Ill.) and Parks work inside that gave the Lakers an edge. 

“(Overshown) is a good shooter,” Ingles said. “We just need to locate those shooters better. But I’m proud of what our second half looked like.” 

With two of MCC’s hardest teams on the schedule out of the way, the Centurions have a much easier rest of the month, starting with a road game at Alpena Community College (0-2 MCCAA North, 1-11 overall), Saturday, Jan. 17. Game time is 3 p.m. 

After the loss to Mid Michigan, Ingles told his players one simple thing.  

“It’s time to get hot. It’s time to get on a run,” he said.  

Briggs followed Evans in scoring, with 16 points, followed by Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.), with 13, and Mason Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.), with 12. Mason Dunn led the team with seven rebounds.  

Mid Michigan shot 45.2% from the floor to MCC’s 47.4%. The Lakers had a sizable advantage at the free throw line, going 25-for-36 while the Centurions shot 13-of-21 from the stripe. 

Mid Michigan outrebounded MCC 44-26 and won the points-off-turnover category, outscoring MCC 27-13, along with outscoring the Centurions 19-9 on second-chance points. 

MCC led the assists category (19-10) and scored 28 points off the bench to Mid Michigan’s seven.