GCC makes Coach Mackey Court official

By JASON JUNO

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Ironwood — Gogebic’s biggest crowds of the year are usually reserved for the postseason or other big late-season matchups.

A chilly Tuesday night in November was the exception as fans turned out to the Samsons’ matchup with Bay College to be a part of the dedication ceremony for what is now officially named Coach Mackey Court.

“It’s one of those things, a little overwhelming for me,” GCC men’s coach Dennis Mackey said. “But at the same time, a nice honor and very appreciative of getting the award, and getting the court named after me officially tonight.”

Former players — men from the 17-plus years he’s coached them and also women from his 19 years coaching the Lady Samsons — were among those in the crowd.

“I bleed Gogebic inside and out,” Mackey said. “I’m proud of what we accomplished and I try to get better and hopefully we can.”

The Samsons fell short Tuesday night to a more experienced Bay College team, 86-79. Bay coach Matt Johnson was worried Mackey would pick up win No. 503 while making a tough place to play even tougher with the emotion of a well-deserved pregame ceremony. The Samsons indeed made it tough, almost coming all the way back from a 20-point deficit in the second half.

“Those 500 wins don’t come by accident,” Johnson said. “Dennis is a great basketball coach, and as good of a basketball coach as he is, he’s a much better person than he is a coach. He’s a top-notch human being.”

Bay led 45-39 early in the second half and followed with a 20-6 run to take a 65-45 lead. Gogebic chipped away at the lead from there — it was 10, 66-56, with just over 10 minutes to go, and five, 82-77, with 2:05 left.

The Samsons’ X’Zavion McCoy hit a floater to make it 82-79 with 1:17 left. Bay’s Nic Williams stuck his fourth 3 of the game, though, to make it a two-possession game and essentially seal it.

Williams finished with a game-high 27 points and shot 11 of 14 from the field, which included 4 of 5 from 3. He was the last player Gogebic wanted to take the shot in that situation.

“You just hope that you can get it in a guy’s hands that’s a little tentative or a little off,” Mackey said. “Unfortunately for us, he knocked it in.”

Johnson said the 6-3 sophomore from La Crosse made a lot of clutch shots in high school as well.

“He’s a big-shot type of kid. We found the right guy,” Johnson said. “Nic played out of his mind, shot the ball incredibly well.”

Johnson said he felt they were a shot or two away from being in a comfortable position when they were up by 20 points early in the second half. But GCC teams always make it tough until the buzzer, he said.

“Hat’s off to Dennis, his team plays as hard as anybody we play. This is as tough of an environment that we play in at any point throughout the season,” Johnson said. “You don’t win 500 games by accident, you gotta be pretty damn good at what you do and Dennis is really good at what he does and he gets his guys to play incredibly hard. If I can get my guys to play as hard as Dennis gets his, I would be really happy. He does it as good as anybody.”

Mackey also thought his team gave a great effort. They were hampered by an 11 of 20 performance at the free throw line, some ill-time turnovers and an experienced opponent.

“They’re just a little more seasoned than we are, especially on the interior,” he said. “Ryan Sweeney (a 6-3 guard) only had eight points, but he’s a great player and he makes things happen..”

McCoy finished with 23 points and he has made Gogebic better all season as well.

“He made some big shots at the end,” Mackey said. “He’s just a gamer, he understands the game, he makes us better, he makes us competitive. He’s a legit guard that understands the game and makes others better on the team.”

GCC’s Cori Johnson scored 15 points, Enrique Moreno-Bautista 11 and Kaden Vardon 10.

“I thought Cori had a nice game,” Mackey said. “I thought Kaden Vardon was outstanding at times and really gave us a threat on both ends of the floor. Jalen Browning, when he can stay healthy, he gets banged up, he’s so thin, but, boy, he can get up in the air. He played with a lot of energy tonight.

“Enrico, he’s a great shooter, he’s just got to get his timing down. He’s capable of putting up 30 any given night, he’s that good a shooter.”

They needed contributions from all of them as Kadin Baxter, who’s played really well so far this year, got into first-half foul trouble and never got into a flow in the second half.

Gogebic (4-2) hosts Alpena CC Friday night and Rochester CTC Saturday afternoon.

Bay improved to 5-2 as they hope to have a strong season going forward. They were ranked 20th nationally in Division II coming into the game.

“The expectations are high because we’ve got talent and we’ve got the personnel and the depth to be very strong,” Johnson said. “But we need to figure some stuff out. We need to get tough like Dennis’s group is. We lack the toughness that his group has. If we had that, I think we’d have a chance to be really special. Right now, I think we’re going to underachieve a little bit until we figure that out.”

Bay — Ryan Sweeney 8, Nic Williams 27, D’Marco Chelley 13, Josh Williams 6, Joe Ofori 9, Mykel Lindsey 9, Tre Sanigar 7, Zavier Hayes 3, Parker Fahning 4. FTs: 7-14. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Williams 4, Sanigar 2, Hayes 1, Chelley 1, Lindsey 1.

GCC — X’Zavion McCoy 23, Jalen Browning 9, Bradyn Pieper 5, Cori Johnson 15, Kevin Frazier 5, Kaden Vardon 10, Ben Salkauskas 1, Enrique Moreno-Bautista 11. FTs: 10-19. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Moreno-Bautista 3, Vardon 2, Johnson 2, Frazier 1, Pieper 1, Browning 1, McCoy 1.

Bay 45 86

GCC 37 79