The 13th ranked Northern Oklahoma College Mavericks remained unbeaten with a 79-68 win over Ft. Scott Tuesday afternoon at Foster-Piper Fieldhouse.
J.D. Ray led the Mavs (3-0) with 19 points while Avante Lederer and Tyrel Morgan had 15 each. Mark Berry also reached double figures with 10.
“It wasn’t a pretty win, but we found a way,” said head coach Donnie Jackson. “I give Ft. Scott all the credit. They played harder than we did. I hope that this game ends up being a lesson for us.”
“Dylan (McLean) making those two threes for us in the second half gave us some breathing room,” Jackson added. “I was proud of him stepping up for the team. He has earned more time. We better get better in a hurry and learn from our mistakes. Shot selection, winning 50/50 balls and making team plays needs to be a priority if we want any chance at competing in Region play.”
“We travel to Labette on Friday and I know they will have every film on us. We need to find a way to play way harder than we did today if we want a chance to win,” Jackson said.
The Mavs led throughout Tuesday’s game but it wasn’t easy against the Greyhounds. NOC built double figure leads in both halves but could never shake pesky Ft. Scott.
It looked like the Mavs would run away in the second half with a 10-0 run to build a 65-48 edge but Ft. Scott immediately cut the lead to 65-53 with a 7-0 run of their own. Ft. Scott could never cut the Mavs lead to lower than 10 the rest of the way.
Ft. Scott dropped to 0-2.
Mavs 79, Ft. Scott 68
Ft. Scott-F. Reeves 14, K. Bolton 10, J. Mouton 8, J. Goins 8, V. Brown 7, Q. Phelan 6, D. Moss 6, J. Howard 5, M. Greenwich 4, J. Smith 2.
Mavs—J. Ray 19, T. Morgan 15, A. Lederer 15, M. Berry 10, D. McLean 6, S. Grisby 4, J. Wilson 4, N. Goodlow 4, M. Crawford 1, C. Dennis 1.
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