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By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter | Photo courtesy of Laurie Schaffer

The Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s basketball team used a different method of attack in its game against North Central Michigan College, and it worked, winning 73-63, Saturday, Feb. 1. 

After a lackluster performance in their previous game, in which they lost 94-57 to Delta College, the Centurions (4-2 MCCAA Northern, 10-10 overall) took a different approach to the Timberwolves (0-7 MCCAA Northern, 0-21 overall), speeding up the pace of their offense, which helped them jump out to an 8-0 lead, in which they never looked back.  

“This game, coach (Zach Ingles) wanted to play with a lot more pace because NCMC wasn’t ready for us because they play a similar game like us, a slower pace, getting into half-court sets,” said Taylen Carver (Louisville, Ky.), MCC’s star freshman guard who scored a game-high 29 points. “We wanted to rattle them and get them out of their spots and we were able to get a jump on them real early.” 

The Centurions’ offense doubled up on the Timberwolves on the scoreboard after freshman forward Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.) hit a three-point shot to put MCC up 22-10. MCC then extended their lead by 20 when Carver dodged an attempted steal by NCMC’s Thomas Conzelmann and spotted up from the top of the key, knocking down a three-point shot, giving MCC a 41-21 lead with 2:57 to go in the first half.  

MCC’s passing game, which ranks 42nd in the nation in Division II, was on display, which all 11 players managed to score in the game. 

“From a passing point, we really do well with passing. That’s one of our best traits,” Ingles said. “That’s how we’re constructed and I was happy to see that continue.” 

The Centurions went into halftime with a comfortable 45-27 lead. 

MCC offense kept up its fast pace in the second half, pushing its lead to 61-39 after Carver nailed another three-pointer, this time off an assist from freshman guard Dorian Allen (Winter Haven, Fla.), to make it 61-39 with 11:32 to go in the game.  

After NCMC couldn’t answer, freshman guard Jack Ruggles (Big Rapids, Mich.) made a wonderful pass inside to freshman forward Caleb Clements (Greenville, Mich.) for an open shot inside, giving MCC a 63-39 lead. 

Eventually, Ingles’ starters headed to the bench and let his reserves take over the game, as freshman guard Andrew Badder (Imlay City, Mich.) kept MCC’s offense going, pushing the lead to 73-49 after knocking down a shot off of a great assist by freshman guard Geronimo Mozzi (Villa Ramallo, Argentina) with 5:40 to go. 

NCMC managed to cut MCC’s lead down to 10, scoring the last 14 points of the game in the last six minutes of the game.  

“I felt really good about this win because we came off a loss,” Carver said. “So it was good to get back to winning and go in the next game with a win on our backs.” 

With MCC’s next game against No. 17-ranked Mid Michigan on Wednesday, Ingles said the win over NCMC is short-lived.  

“We got a big one Wednesday with Mid Michigan, that’s where all our focus shifts in about 25 minutes,” Ingles said. “We just have to play better against them. We’ve beat Bay before where we thought we were the ’86 Celtics and then played like the ’86 Warriors against Mid. So we will go watch film and see what we did and didn’t like and put together a plan and we’ll do our old college try.” 

Along with his 29 points, Carver had four steals and four rebounds. No other player for MCC scored in double digits, however, Dunn finished with nine points and five rebounds while Allen led the team with eight assists. Mozzi finished with seven points and two assists.  

MCC outplayed NCMC in many statistical categories, shooting 44.3% (27-of-61) to NCMC’s 39% (23-of-59) and outshot them from three-point land, going 11-of-35 to NCMC’s 3-of-19. 

The Timberwolves outrebounded the Centurions, 41-31, and outscored them in points off turnovers, 26-14. MCC bench’s outscored NCMC’s, 25-11. 

UP NEXT: MCC will host Mid Michigan Wednesday, Feb. 5, with tip-off time at 7:30 p.m. The Lakers are first in the MCCAA Northern division with a 7-0 record and 18-3 overall. With a 4-2 division record, MCC is tied for third place with Muskegon Community College.