Men's Basketball Win Six Straight To Qualify For Region Playoffs

 

Heading into their final six games of the regular season MCCC men’s basketball faced a daunting task: they had to win their final six regular season games in order to qualify for the Region 19 Playoffs.  And the Vikings did just that to earn a spot in the Region Playoffs.

 

The tough part is the Vikings will take on the opponent they just beat to get into the Region Playoffs, County College of Morris.  To clinch a playoff spot, MCCC beat Morris 83-75 on February 20^th.  Earlier in the season, the Vikings lost at Morris 85-84 on December 19^th.  Morris will enter as the #4 seed with a 6-5 record in Region and Mercer is the #5 seed with a 4-7 Region record.  The winner will take on #1 Raritan Valley, who is 9-3 in Region play, who the Vikings just beat this week 100-98 on February 18^th.  Middlesex is the #2 seed with a 7-5 Region record and hold the tie-breaker over #3 seed Lackawanna who is also 7-5 in Region.

 

In order to qualify for the Region Playoffs, a team must either be .500 overall or .500 in Region play.  With the win over Morris in their final regular season game, Mercer finished 13-13 to just make it into the Playoffs.  Morris is 12-15 overall, but 6-5 in Region play.

 

One of the Vikings’ biggest strengths has been their balance.  Different players have stepped up every game and been willing to take on multiple roles to help the team win.  Four Vikings are averaging double digits, led by sophomore Jayson Love (Philadelphia, PA/Academy at Palumbo) who is averaging 19 points.  Freshman Joell Idovo (Hamilton, NJ/Solebury School) is averaging 16.8 points per game, freshman Torren Greene (Berlin, NJ/Paul VI) is averaging 15.5 points per game and freshman Brandon McCain (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick HS) is averaging 10.3 points per game.  Freshman Drew Parrish (New York, NY/Murray Bergtraum HS) is almost averaging double digit points per game with a 9.1 points per game average and is also averaging 3.3 assists per game.  Sophomore Joe Lemly (Hamilton, NJ/Nottingham) is averaging 7 points a game and continues to give the Vikings valuable minutes.  The scoring averages are so close because the Vikings have been unselfish and have five players (Love, Idrovo, Greene, McCain and Parrish) averaging 2.0 or more assists per game.

 

Winning a playoff game and seven straight games is never easy, but the Vikings are used to the pressure of a big game, they’ve been through six straight of them!

 

 

For the latest on MCCC men’s basketball, visit: https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_men_basketball.shtml