NORTHEAST MEN COME UP SHORT TO IOWA CENTRAL

NORFOLK, Neb. – The Northeast Community College men's basketball team had a large fan contingent rooting them on Wednesday night at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk, but they ultimately fell short by a final of 74-68 to Iowa Central Community College. 

The Hawks (5-22, 1-15 ICCAC) came out hot and were able to open up a 43-31 halftime edge over the Tritons. The shooting would cool off in the second half however, and the Tritons took their first lead of the second half with seven minutes remaining. The Hawks were able to extend the game by fouling late, but the ruckus crowd couldn't stop the Tritons from burying the necessary free throws to take the victory. 

STAT SHEET 

•          Jared Lopez (Lincoln, Neb.): 17 PTS, 9 REB 

•          Evan Decker (Omaha, Neb.): 14 PTS 

•          Emaniel Alexandre (Nassau, Bahamas): 11 PTS, 5 REB, 3 STL 

•           Jaden Strachan (Nassau, Bahamas): 10 PTS  

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH 

Head men's basketball coach Dan Anderson's overall thoughts on the contest: 

"Well, you're never happy that you lose a game," Anderson said. "I told this to the guys afterwards, but to play in a game where it's close, where you maybe have to foul is a good learning environment. Yeah, it hurts. But it's a good environment where we have to learn to do those things. Iowa Central's a good program. In the first half we shot it much better than we did in the second half. There are no easy teams in this league. They're all pretty good. It's not as if we didn't have good looks. We had some good looks, but they just didn't go down." 

Anderson's positive takeaways from the matchup: 

"Jared Lopez played well. A guy that doesn't get a whole lot of credit is Jaden (Strachan), but he plays really good defense." 

Anderson's early thoughts on facing Iowa Central Community College next:

"Just hope that we can shoot it better," Anderson said. "It's exciting to get to the tournament. See what we can do. Play hard." 

UP NEXT 

The Hawks will face Iowa Central Community College again with just one day between the two games, but this time it's win or go home in the postseason. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday in Mason City, Iowa. 

HAWKS HAPPENINGS 

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