It was a rough weekend for the CCC men's basketball team. The Tigers dropped a pair of conference games on the road to Central Baptist and College of the Ozarks. The Tiger men lost a heart breaker on Friday to the Central Baptist College Mustangs 84-86. The Tigers led the Mustangs at the end of the first half 49-44, but were unable to sustain that lead in the second half. The guys were unable to execute down the stretch and the Mustangs escaped with a two point victory.

Five Tigers scored in double figures, led by Mike Lyons who had 19 points and 5 assists. Right behind him was leading scorer Chris Jones with 18 points and 8 boards. Jared Cotton added 11, and Aaron Cannon and Randall Conley both chipped in 10. The Mustangs out rebounded the Tigers 40-30 which is a little out of character for the Tigers. The CCC defense forced the Mustangs into 18 turnovers, but unfortunately they were unable to capitalize on many of those miscues.

On Saturday the Tigers dropped a 10 point decision to the College of the Ozarks Bobcats 52-62. Like they did on Friday against the Mustangs, the Tigers led the Bobcats after the first half 35-33. In the second half, the Bobcats outscored the Tigers by eight, 29-17 and walked away with a ten point win. Turn overs were the Achilles heel for the Tigers on Saturday. The Bobcat defense forced the Tigers to turn the ball over 20 times. The Tigers had a better shooting percentage from the floor, but the Bobcats made four more buckets than the Tigers.

Chris Jones led the way for the Tigers with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Mike Lyons, who has been averaging in double figures since the holiday break, added 14 points and 6 rebounds. Aaron Cannon just missed scoring in double figures with 9 points and 5 rebounds.

The Tigers dropped to 12-8 on the season and 2-3 in the MCAC with the losses this weekend. Things get even tougher for the Tigers next weekend as they finish up their five game road trip with a pair of MCAC games at Bellevue on Friday, and York on Saturday.