NORTHEAST OPENS CONFERENCE PLAY TUESDAY IN MATCHUP WITH IOWA CENTRAL

NORFOLK, Neb. – The Northeast Community College men's basketball team took on No. 5 Iowa Central Community College at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk Tuesday night. The Hawks dropped the ICCAC contest by a final score of 88-68.

Northeast (4-3, 0-1 ICCAC) outscored the top-five Tritons 48-38 in the second half, but a slow start in the first half proved too much to overcome. Sunny Singh (Queens, N.Y.) and Scottie Johnson (Denton, Texas) both led the Hawks in scoring with 12 points each as Northeast will continue their conference schedule next with a matchup against No. 6 Ellsworth Community College at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk.

STAT SHEET:

Sunny Singh (Queens, N.Y.): 12 PTS, 6 REB, 6 STL

Scottie Johnson (Denton, Texas): 12 PTS, 7 REB

Marcus Coombs (Blackfoot, Idaho): 11 PTS, 2 REB

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head Men's Basketball Coach Josh Clark on the night with the No. 5 Tritons:

"We came out flat," Clark said. "We game planned all week for how we expected them to play, and we came out and did not execute. This conference is a tough conference. We have to find ways to score and get stops. I'm proud of the way the guys played in the second half and we played hard, which we needed to do all 40 minutes."

Clark on bouncing back against another tough opponent on Sunday:

"We need to be ready to go off the jump," Clark said. "Ellsworth is just as strong if not stronger than Iowa Central, and they have experience. We have to be ready, and tonight hopefully was the wakeup call we needed. We'll be ready for Sunday."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks will welcome their second top-10 team to their place in as many showdowns as they will take on No. 6 Ellsworth Community College at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk.

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