MC Men’s Basketball Jump Starts Season With Two Victories in Tip-Off Tournament

The Raptors men's basketball team picked up two victories this past weekend as host of MC Tip-Off Tournament with wins against Monroe College Mustangs (JV) 95-88 and Northern Virginia Nighthawks 102-99 in OT.

On Saturday, the Raptors battled against Monroe College JV as Montgomery outscored their opponent in the first half by four points and again in the second half by three points to pull out the seven-point victory.

Four Raptors recorded double-digit points with Collin Turner leading the way with a game-high 39 points shooting 8 for 13 from deep, and Afanna Offor contributed 16 points in Montgomery's first victory of the season.

Sunday's game final of the tournament was an instant classic as the MC Raptors got out to a 21-point lead with 90 seconds left in the first half. Nova cut the lead to 18 with a three-point shot before the halftime buzzer.

To start off the second half, the Raptors were on the wrong end of an 8-0 run to bring the game within 10 with 18 minutes left. Montgomery halted the run but MC then went four minutes without scoring a point, and the Nighthawks came within one point with 14:30 left to play. The game was back and forth for the remainder of the contest, and The Nighthawks took a five-point lead with 49 seconds left in regulations.

With 5 seconds remaining in the second half, Raptors were trailing 92-89, Collin Turner dribbled the ball the length of the court and pulled up with one second remaining and made a 25 footer to send the game into overtime. In OT Turner pulled down a big defensive rebound and made two free throws to put his team up three points,102-99 with seven seconds remaining in the game. After the last chance 3-point attempt by NOVA, the Raptors would go on to win 102-99. Turner had a team-high 36 points and nine rebounds while Offor added 19 points and Freddie Harris came off the bench and recorded 11 points and 18 rebounds in the overtime victory.

The Raptors have their first conference game Wednesday, November 15th at 7:30 pm at home (on the Rockville Campus) against Frederick. The Raptors then go on the road for a matchup against Pennsylvania Highlands CC on Saturday, November 18th and away again on Tuesday, November 21st at Cecil College. The Raptors finish off the month at home after the Thanksgiving break on Wednesday the 29th at 7:30 pm against Potomac State College of WVA (on the Rockville Campus).