Holloway's 31 lead Mesa men to fifth straight win, 70-62 over Cochise
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cochise College (16-4, 8-4) | 31 | 31 | 62 |
|
Mesa Community College (13-5, 10-2) | 30 | 40 | 70 |
Cochise College
| Game Statistics | Cochise College | Mesa Community College |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (23-67) | (23-48) |
| Field Goal % | 34.3% | 47.9% |
| Rebounds | 30 | 39 |
| Assists | 4 | 15 |
| Turnovers | 10 | 15 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 17 | 15 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 16 | 9 |
| Pts in the Paint | 22 | 22 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 6 | 4 |
| Bench Pts | 7 | 15 |
MESA, AZ - Khari Holloway (So., Jackson, Miss/Mountain Pointe (AZ) H.S.) poured in a career-high 31 points to lead the Mesa men to their fifth straight win Wednesday night at Theo Heap Gym.
The victory opened the second half of ACCAC play for the first place T-Birds (13-5, 10-2) and avenged a 23-point loss MCC suffered to the Apaches (16-4, 8-4) on the road in the first conference game of the year in November.
It was also Mesa's fifth win of the season after trailing at halftime.
Holloway, who has been named ACCAC Player of the Week for the past two weeks took a big step toward claiming the honor again with a fabulous night. He made seven of his 11 shots, including 5-7 three-point shooting. About the only aspect of his game that was sub-par, if you can call it that, was his free throw shooting. He was 12-14 from the line, a number that would please almost anyone else, but actually lowered his nation-leading percentage to .934. He had missed only six of 107 attempts previously.
Mesa took control early in the first half, taking a quick 11-4 lead. The T-Birds remained on top until Daniel Hernandez hit a jumper at the 4:36 mark to put his team on top for the first time, 24-23.
From there on it was a dog fight.
The Apaches held a 31-30 halftime margin, but the lead changed hands 11 times and there were two ties after Hernandez' basket until a three-point play by Mitch Burnett (Fr., Phoenix, AZ/Central H.S.) put MCC on top, 47-45, at the 10:12 mark, a lead Mesa would never relinquish.
That was part of a 15-3 run which put the Thunderbirds up 55-46 which Holloway finished with one of his five three-pointers. Cochise never got to within six again as MCC used its outstanding free throw shooting to make seven in a row over the last three minutes, six of them by Holloway.
Jordan Pratt (Fr., Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain H.S.) contributed ten points for Mesa, his sixth double figure scoring effort in the last eight games.
Gianni Dailey (So., Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's H.S.) had eight rebounds, Burnett added seven and Pratt six as the T-Birds dominated the boards, 39-30.
Mesa limited the Apaches to just .343 shooting for the night (23-67) while hitting 23-38 (.479) itself. Cochise was 8-40 on three-pointers.
MCC travels to Scottsdale for its next contest Saturday at 4:00 p.m.