Men’s basketball tops YCC

Lee Kauftheil
Contributing Writer

The MCC men’s basketball team defeated undefeated Yavapai Community College, 84-70 Feb. 4. Mesa’s coaches and players were excited by the win, but not surprised. Head Coach Alton Lister said that the T-birds knew who they were going up against. MCC practiced to play on the Roughriders weaknesses.
The T-birds began the game with a score by Fred Marshall after MCC claimed the tip-off. YCC tied the score and took the lead by making two consecutive field goals. The first three-pointer of the game was made by Micky Burtnyk, which brought MCC back into the lead. YCC took the lead with a three-point shot, rallied and began to make basket after basket to maintain the lead.
As halftime approached, MCC hustled to close the gap. MCC was down by one at the buzzer with a score of 38-37 Yavapai.
The Thunderbirds displayed their practiced game through diligence offensively and defensively throughout the second half, finishing on top.
Lister commented after the game, “We played a great all around game…we prepared for them, we knew exactly what they wanted to do.” He added, “Kids do not always do the right thing, but they did exactly what we talked about…we had a great game plan and they executed it.”
One of the high scorers of the night, Ryan Rourke, attributed the win to a great hustle by everyone on the team and was happy to “show we can play.”
Burtnyk noted that by YCC covering Mesa’s taller players, he had more opportunities to score.
Marshall said, “That is basically coach’s theory…you take their hearts in the fourth quarter and it is pretty hard to come back from that.”

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