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| Nate
Perry (No. 22) soars over fellow teammate, Quinn Barfield (21),
and two Yavapai players during MCC’s 79-72 victory. Perry
finished with 19 points, while Barfield led the team with 30
points. |
Photos
by Rebecca Straughmatt
Mesa Legend |
High-scoring duo leads
T-Birds in comeback win
Ashley Mendivil
Mesa Legend
The MCC men’s basketball team
improved their record to 14-5 on the season, defeating Yavapai College,
79-72, placing the Thunderbirds in third place in the Arizona Community
College Athletic Conference.
The win comes after a two-game road trip, in which the team traveled
to Cochise Community College in Douglas, Ariz., and Pima Community
College in Tucson.
MCC suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to second ranked Cochise
CC, 91-87, but they also secured high scoring win over Pima, 95-92.
The win over fifth ranked Yavapai was achieved with help from the
game’s leading scorer, Quinn Barfield, who posted a double-double
with 30 points and 13 rebounds.
Barfield also managed seven steals for the night.
“We did really well. I didn’t hit a bunch of free throws
that I should have, but other than that I think I did pretty well,”
Barfield said, adding that “staying on top of them (Yavapai)”
was the biggest challenge.
Nate Perry helped contribute to the win by putting 19 points on
the scoreboard and adding nine rebounds.
Perry is ranked third in rebounding, averaging nearly 11 per game
and fourth in steals, averaging 2.4 per game.
“We performed pretty well,” Perry said. “They
showed us spurts, but when it comes down to the end, it’s
all about heart, and whoever has the most is going to come up with
it.”
Both Perry and Barfield rank third and fourth in the ACCAC scoring
statistics, averaging 37.6 points per game combined.
As a team, MCC is ranked third in offense, averaging 85.4 points
per game; second place in rebounds with 41.7 per game and second
in free throw percentage at 71 percent.
“Our offense and defense play well as a team,” Perry
said, “I think we’re moving on real well.”
MCC managed to pull off a seven point victory after having the lead
the entire first half, and being behind by as much as six points
for the majority of the second half.
“It feels good on one hand to know that we can get down on
a good team, and then fight back to win,” Barfield said.
“We won the game, bottom line,” head coach Alton Lister
said.
“Yavapai was a really good team and a good challenge for us,
but we hung in, made shots and defended when we had to. Overall,
we made it when it counted.”
The basketball team will host Chandler-Gilbert Community College
on Feb. 2. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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