Samsons hammer Hibbing for 4th straight win

IRONWOOD -The Gogebic Community College Samsons have entered uncharted territory with their fourth straight victory, a 101-61 blitzing of Hibbing Community College at the Lindquist Center on Wednesday night.

"I think we've played very well of late," Gogebic coach Dennis Mackey said. "We turned the corner when we won two games at Marshfield, beat NIU and won tonight. Each guy had to learn and accept their role on the team and they are accepting those roles. We're playing better as a team. We have 6-9 guys that can be the leading scorer and if not, they play other roles.

"We're just scratching the surface as to where we want to go. We're waiting to put it all together as we get closer to Region 13. We're feeling good, being 14-9. But we have a lot of tough games and good competition yet to come."

Count Hibbing coach Mike Turnbull among those who think GCC is on the rise and it's because of their shooting.

"They shot great," Turnbull said. "I think they had nine different guys shoot 18 3s. We played them around Thanksgiving and it was fairly close. But tonight, we didn't rotate well (on defense), and they had great shooting."

Mackey felt especially good about GCC's 3-point shooting. The Samsons connected on 18-34 triples (52.9 percent).

"I'll take that any time," Mackey said.

Samson freshman, Michael Harris, who was the game's top gun with 22 points, said the team has been inconsistent but that was about to stop.

"We normally have a tendency to win two, lose one," Harris said. "Coach has been on us to stay consistent. and string some wins together with the playoffs coming. We came off three wins and I focused on being a consistent player. We've got to keep it going. We have to treat every game the same and be Kobe-minded."

All night long, the green-and-white had good ball movement and swung the ball very well. GCC's Adam Mackey started the contest at point guard and he passed to the right and it swung back to him for a top-of-the-key 3 at the 19:47 mark.

After Hibbing CC took a 4-3 advantage, Gogebic made a surge in which they out-scored the Cardinals 30-15. GCC went on a three spree during that time as Hickman, Rowe, Harris, Wendt and Zielinski all splashed triples.

The Samsons paused to catch their breath and then were back shooting at a torrid pace. Cole Kivisto came off the bench to bury two 3's and Hickman drilled a long, long triple as the Samsons went into halftime with a 50-34 lead.

Gogebic kept pulling away from Hibbing in the second half. Hickman hit two shots from the same spot at the top-of-the-key and GCC's Collin Miller and nailed a shot from downtown and a put-back by Brandon Cooper made it 67-37 with 14:54 remaining.

At the 14:33 mark, Miller made a perfect lob to Cooper who made a slam dunk that got the crowd into it. Harris added another slam dunk on a breakaway lay-up that inserted the dagger with 8:44 left and gave GCC a 80-39 lead.

Zielinski's turn-around jumper from the baseline with 41.2 seconds left put the Samsons over the century mark.

Beau Howard led the Cardinal attack with 19 points and Markis Warkins added 10. Gogebic had excellent balanced scoring as five players reached double figures.

Harris' big night had him pretty pumped up.

"The dunk felt pretty exciting and it got the crowd excited," Harris said. "You get about two to three games where you can't do anything wrong. The world is yours. The guys did a good job of swinging the ball and finding the open man."

Hickman, Mackey and Zielinski all notched 12 points and Kivisto garnered 11.

Gogebic (14-9) travels to UW-Marinette on Monday for a 7 p.m. tip-off. The GCC women's game starts at 5 p.m.

Hibbing - Beau Howard 19, Markis Watkins 16, Antonio Carr 4, Kioshi Abdillahi 2, Noah Davis 2, Denzel Jones 5, Kioshi Deming 2, Mohamoud Abdillahi 2, Anthony Fisher 11. FTs: 3-9, Fouls: 17, Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: Beau Howard 5, Watkins 1, Jones 1.

GCC - LaDell Hickman 12, Michael Harris 22, Adam Mackey 12, Cole Kivisto 11, Tarius Hagood 4, Ben Zielinski 12, Collin Miller 7, Brandon Cooper 7, Bryant Rowe 6, Donald Hutchens 3, Jared wendt 5 . FTs 15-21:, Fouls: 14, Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: LaDell Hickman 4, Cole Kivisto 3, Michael Harris 4, Adam Mackey 2, Donald Hutchens 1, Ben Zielinski 1, Collin Miller 1, Jared Wendt 1, Bryant Rowe 1.

Half: Gogebic, 50-34