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McFerren’s third stint for NMCC boys basketball off to strong start
NEW MADRID, Mo – They say you can’t go home again, but Lennies McFerren’s third stint as New Madrid County Central got off to a strong start against Cairo, Ill., Saturday to close out the opening night of the Riverbend Shootout.
The Eagles led from the opening minute and kept their advantage in the double-digits the entire second half to down the Pilots 66-51.
“We had a good crowd and the kids were excited,” McFerren said. “We have a long way to go to play within ourselves. We didn’t play within ourselves. We’re better than that and the guys know that.
“I’m glad they got a win and we get to play again tomorrow. I think we’ll see a little bit better club tomorrow (in us) and we’ll be playing West Memphis, who is a good team. We’ll get a good test Saturday.”
Cairo’s only lead in the game came on their opening basket. The Eagles countered with 10-straight points and never looked back.
With a 10-point advantage to start the second half, 35-25, the Eagles put together their best eight minutes of the season to put the game out of reach.
Making five of their first eight shots of the half NMCC finished the third quarter 12 of 20 from the floor to outscore the Pilots 26-11 in the frame.
The Eagles held the Pilots to just nine shots in the quarter to take a 61-36 advantage into the fourth. Demetrius Moore hit his team’s first shot of the fourth to increase NMCC’s lead to a game-high 27-points.
“We settled down and started playing our basketball,” McFerren said. “We weren’t just ripping-and-running up and down the court.”
Cairo made some ground in the fourth, cutting their deficit to 15 points in the closing minute as the Eagles relied heavily on their bench to finish out the game.
Donnie Ray Brown led NMCC (1-0) with 14 points on the game, including a 4 for 5 effort at the free throw line. Austin Davis finished with 10 points while Johnnie Walker and Christen Phillips had nine and eight points respectively.
For the Pilots (0-1), Terrell Jones scored a game-high 22 points, hitting seven of his team’s nine 3-pointers.
NMCC shot 27 of 62 (44 percent) from the field on the game with Cairo finishing 17 of 50 (34 percent).
“We’re young and inexperienced right now,” Pilots’ head coach Larry Wood said. “As they get experience as the season goes along we’ll be a better team.”
“(The third quarter) was part of being young. We had a game plan coming out and being young with the pressure they put on us got us out of our rhythm a little bit.”
While NMCC didn’t hit a single 3-pointer in the game it was Cairo’s deep shooting that kept them in the contest going into halftime.
Back-to-back 3-pointers to end the first quarter cut a 13-point deficit to seven and Howard hit his fifth three to close out the first half, cutting another 13-points deficit down to 10.
Five of their seven field goals in the first two quarters were from behind the arc as were nine of their 17 on the game.
| Cairo | 11 | 14 | 11 | 15 | – | 51 |
| NMCC | 18 | 17 | 26 | 5 | – | 66 |
CAIRO (51) – Davis 5, Terrell Jones 22, Dequavius Williams 6, Isaiah Brown 6, Curtis Wilkerson 3, Riko Nelson 6, Richard Miles 1, Alton Hervey 2. FG 17, FT 8-19, F 19. (3-pointers: Jones 7. Brown 1, Nelson 1. Fouled out: none.)
NMCC (66) – Thailin Marsh 7, Johnnie Walker 9, Austin Davis 10, Christen Phillips 8, Bryshawn Williams 2, Ansel Underwood 5, Kevon Williams 5, Gabe York 2, Demetrius Moore 2, Donnie Ray Brown 14. FG 26, FT 12-20, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)