Rochester, MN-

A pair of men's basketball standouts have earned Player-of-the-Week honors in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference recently.   Hoops action begins to pick up this week, with over 20 games involving MCAC programs on the schedule. 

Notable Performances Around the MCAC:

SCTCC's Dillon Haider had 16 points - including a 4-for-4 free throw shooting mark - and four rebounds in the Cyclone's 110-69 win over NJCAA Division II Goegebic, while Taye Carter grabbed six boards in the game.  Paul Coleman had six assists and six steals in the contest.  Combined, Haider, Carter and Colemen were 14-for-14 from the charity stripe.  Coleman also had 21 points, six assists and four steals in his team's 104-99 win over Madison College. 

Lake Superior College downed UW-Barron County 116-47, in part due to Kavaughn Bonner chipping in 16 points coming off the bench, while Antonio Carter had six boards and four steals on the day. Dalton Steede contributed eight rebounds and three blocked shots, while shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. 

Central Lakes College opened their 2018-19 season with a win over Leech Lake Tribal College, 104-65.   JaQuavius Hays led CLC with 27 points and ten boards, while  Gavin Smith chipped in 15 points as well.  Al-Jureau Ray dished out five assists. Chris Buckley led his team in steals with four against Leech Lake. 

Northland Community & Technical College beat the JV team at Mayville State, 79-71 to open up 2018-19;  Ibrahim Nasir and Christian Horton each had 18 points, while Bakri Gubara had 16 total. Z'Mari Minter and Nasir both hit double-digits in rebounding, with 11 and 10, respectively.   Bakri Gubara was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line for the Pioneers. 

In a pair of wins Anoka Ramsey Community College saw Justin Castro score 16 points against NJCAA Division II foe Gogebic Community College and hit for 33 against Madison College; combined, Castro was 16-of-29 in field goals, including an 11-of-14 performance from the charity stripe and 6-of-11 from three point range.  He averaged 5.0 boards a contest, with ten assists and only two turnovers.  Jalen Dunlap averaged 12 points across the two contests, while picking up eight steals and eight assists.  Steven Colon came off the bench in both games and had 15 points against GCC. 

Riverland Community College opened up 2018-19 with two wins over JV teams, 96-76 over Dakota State and 66-57 over Saint Mary's.  Deandre Anderson was 8-for-8 from the foul line for the week and chipped in 27 points across the two games. Montrell Jacobs had five 3-pointers against DSU and SMU combined, while DeAndre Smith had 18 rebounds for the week. 

Minnesota West CTC went 1-1 against the JV teams of Northwestern College and Dordt College respectively.  Dordt and MnWest needed three overtimes to settle things with the BlueJays prevailing 102-94 and Deshawn Pickford led all scorers with 31 points- Pickford also hit for 24 points against Northwestern in a 74-70 BlueJay loss. Emmanuel Akot had 12 rebounds and 12 points, along with two blocks in the contest against Dordt, while Chris Morales had 14 points. 

Rochester Community & Technical College fell on the road to a pair of NJCAA Division II teams in Ellsworth (IA) and North Iowa Area Community College.  Karmoga Lero led RCTC in scoring with 16 points against NIACC while Ben Opsahl had 14.  Between the two games, Mark Manyuon accumulated seven rebounds. Dashanirro Pettigrew had 14 points was a a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range against Ellsworth. 

Western Technical College defeated UW-Richland, 82-59 at home on November 1. The Cavaliers held UW-Richland to 21 first half points and Josh Brownlee led his team with 18 points in the contest while Andrew Scott had ten rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot.  

Ridgewater College went 1-1 on the week, falling to Sisseton Wahpeton College 103-102 and beating the JV team of Mayville State, 97-68.  Against Mayville, Jadaunte Sutton led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Sutton was a perfect 9-of-9 from the field, including a 4-for-4 performance from behing the arc.  Daiviante Ostrander and Travis Visser each had four assists against MSC; Visser also had eight boards. 

MCAC Men's Basketball Stats Leaders: http://www.mcacsports.org/sports/mbkb/2018-19/leaders

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This release sponsored in part by: 

The United Heroes League seeks to keep military kids healthy and active through sports while their parents are serving the nation.  The United Heroes League is headquartered in Hastings, Minnesota and offers several opportunities for colleges, businesses, organizations and individuals to help support their cause.  The #1 goal for the United Heros League is to ensure that all 5 million military kids are able to develop critical life skills through sports.  This intense focus on youth development and serving the families of our miliary service members motivates the United Heroes League to keep programs focused. This focus has also inspired over 90 professional athletes and over 30 sports franchises to lend their name and support to the United Heroes League.

About the Minnesota College Athletic Conference

The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State system.  The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions.  The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.