News

With its brutal non-conference schedule complete, the Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s basketball team started its MCCAA Northern Conference schedule, getting its first win out of the way early. 

The Centurions (1-0 MCCAA North, 8-7 overall) went on the road against Bay College (0-1 MCCAA North, 11-4 overall) and earned a 71-54 win to get their first conference victory. MCC had a strong second half, outscoring the Norse 39-28 to clinch the game.  

The Centurions were led by sophomore Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.), who scored 19 points and 10 rebounds while freshman teammate Sebastian Kamalzadeh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored 16 points. Freshman Michael Irving III (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench and added 10 points for MCC.  

The Centurions are now on a two-game winning streak, having beaten Roxbury Community College (7-13 overall) 58-50, Jan. 3, during their Palm Beach State Invitational competition in Florida. MCC started the tournament with a 68-42 loss to Palm Beach State College (19-1 overall), NJCAA DII’s top ranked team.  

The Centurions have been playing without team leader and scoring threat sophomore Taylen Carver (Louisville, Ky.), who has been out since late November with a lower body injury. 

MCC Head Coach Zach Ingles told his players they’re facing a “tale of two seasons” — the first being with Carver and the second possibly being without Carver, stating his team has had to adjust to not having their leader out there with them competing on the court, which, he added, they’ve been doing well. 

“We’ve been leading by committee,” Ingles said. “When you lose an alpha, you have to adapt, and they’ve adapted well. It took a minute to get our sea legs back, but we adjusted.” 

Kamalzadeh has been one player who has stepped up in Carver’s absence, scoring nine points in MCC’s loss to Palm Beach State, 15 points in the win against Roxbury and 15 against Bay.  

“‘Sebi’ has gotten his shots to go down lately,” Centurions Assistant Coach Asher Vissman said. “It was great to see him perform so well in the games in his hometown.” 

Vissman said it is players like Kamalzadeh who will be vital to the team’s success as it heads into conference play. 

“I expect nothing less than what he’s done the last few games,” Vissman said. “He’s playing well. Now we build on that.” 

With the impressive win against a tough conference foe in Bay College, Vissman is hoping his team can keep up the good defensive play the Centurions have been showcasing. 

“Our goal against Bay was to play tough man-to-man defense. We executed the gameplan really well,” Vissman said. “They are a good team and we stepped up physically.” 

MCC hopes to continue its winning streak as it hosts Mid Michigan College (1-0 MCCAA North, 11-4 overall) at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 14. The Lakers are one of the top teams in the MCCAA, which will be an excellent measure for the Centurions as they look to win the North. 

“That’s our goal, to win the North,” Vissman said. “That’s been the goal since Day 1,” Vissman said. “We played a really tough non-conference schedule to prepare us for conference play. Now that we’re here, we expect to play at a high level.”