Home|Sports|McCoy, Tigers win six straightSports
Bahamian records a double-double to help his team win
Simba FrenchSend an emailJanuary 25, 2023 171 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Bahamian collegiate basketball player Malachi McCoy and his team, the Benedict College Tigers, are riding a six-game winning streak. The Bahamian forward notched his seventh double-double of the season on Monday night to help them take down Edward Waters University, 89-70.
Playing on the road at the Adams-Jenkins Community Sports and Music Complex in Jacksonville, Florida, McCoy scored 19 points and added 12 rebounds in 36 minutes on the floor. He led the team in both points and rebounds. McCoy was strong from the field, going 9-for-13, to finish the game shooting a sizzling 69.2 percent. He is at 62.2 percent on the season. McCoy was active on the offensive glass, collecting five offensive boards. He got two assists.
It was a tale of two halves for the Tigers and they now sport an 11-7 win/loss record on the season, 9-4 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). They are second in SIAC behind Savannah State University (10-3, 12-5 SIAC).
After going down 47-42 at the end of the first half, the Tigers needed a strong second half to keep their winning streak going. Their defense stepped up in the second half as they held Edward Waters to only five made field goals, outscoring them 47-23.
McCoy, who was named SIAC Player of the Week last week, scored nine points in the first half, keeping the Tigers close to Edward Waters. They finished the first half shooting 40.5 percent.
The teams went back and forth at the start of the second half. McCoy made a jumper with 10:57 left in the second half to give his team a 62-59 lead. From there, it was all Tigers as they outscored Edward Waters 27-11 the rest of the way.
Tavares Oliver led Edward Waters with 20 points in the loss.
In the game, the Tigers had 24 fast break points and 17 second chance points. They scored 22 points from their opponents’ 21 turnovers. The game had six lead changes and two tied scores.
McCoy, a junior, had a great week to start off the new year, going 14-for-17 from the field that week. He led the Tigers with 18 points and 13
rebounds in a victory against Albany State then had 13 points and four rebounds against Morehouse College.
In 18 games this season, he has started in 14 of them and is averaging 11.6 points, 9.3 rebounds in 27.6 minutes per game. All are career highs for him.
The Tigers finish the week with home and away matchups against Savannah State. The first game is an away matchup that gets underway this evening at 7:30 p.m., ending the Tigers’ five-game road trip. That game will be played at the Tiger Arena in Savannah, Georgia. The second game is set for Saturday when they play at home at the HRC Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. That game gets underway at 3 p.m.