Men’s Basketball: Iowa Central Classic Recap

The Central Community College men's basketball team went 1-1 at the Iowa Central Classic in Fort Dodge, Iowa over the weekend. A recap of both games is below. The 6-2 Raiders are back in action on Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. contest at McCook Community College.

Game 1: Kirkwood Community College 82  CCC 70

The Eagles jumped out to the early lead and never relinquished as they built a 43-35 halftime lead. The Raiders went to work in the second half, but Kirkwood had an answer and went on to post the 12-point victory.

"I thought we really competed in the second half, but we couldn't hit the big shot when we needed to," said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "Kirkwood is a very good and physical team and they made us pay for mistakes."

Josh Baker and Blake Daberkow each scored 14 points to lead CCC in scoring. Trey Deveaux scored 13 points and Derek Merwick finished with 11 points.

Game 2: CCC 72  ICCC 70

CCC's Derek Merwick hit a two-point bucket to break a 70-70 tie with time winding down while ICCC's Jamari Magee missed a three-pointer, and the Raiders claimed a 72-70 win.

The hometown Tritons led by as many as 11 points in the first half and led 38-29 at halftime. In the second half, ICCC extended its lead to 56-40 when the Raiders rattled off a 22-6 run to tie the score at 60 apiece. A few moments later, CCC's PJ Davis nailed a pair of free throws to put the Raiders ahead, 70-67. The Tritons' Issac Besh hit a three-point shot to make the score 70-all, setting up Merwick's heroics.

Deveaux led CCC with 16 points while Daberkow scored 11 points. Jayden Byabato and Aidan Graham each scored 10 points to round out the double-digit scoring. Merwick pulled down 10 defensive rebounds.

"I'm real proud of how we responded after Friday's loss and not playing well in the first half to pull out the win," Ritzdorf said. "Derek played another great all-around game. He effects the game in so many ways, and he once again hit a huge shot to win the game in the last few seconds."