PORT HURON – Grit. No. 4 Macomb Men's Basketball, shorthanded on the evening without the services of Jotham Nweke and Lajuan Holloway, picked up a hard-fought 76-74 road win over the No. 14 Skippers of St. Clair County Community College on Wednesday (Jan. 22) in Port Huron. The Monarchs, now 17-1 overall and 4-0 in the MCCAA East, finished the final 7:25 of game action with five players in the latest thriller between the programs.
 
The 14^th ranked Skippers fell to 14-5 overall and 2-2 in the MCCAA East with the narrow home setback.
 
Despite only having seven players and down a full-time starter (Nweke) and a player who has been earning a starting nod as of late (Holloway), the Monarchs started hot and led by as many as 22 in the opening half before settling on a 46-30 lead at the break. 

The host Skippers battled back from a tough first half to take the lead with just over seven minutes remaining, but a quick offensive burst gave the Monarchs the lead again for good on the next possession. After missing a few free throws late, the Monarchs opened the door for the Skippers to tie or take the lead in the waning seconds but the Blue & White had one last stop in them to secure the gritty conference win.
 
The Monarchs led for 38:55 of game action, or 97.3% of the contest, compared to :19 for the Skippers, while the remaining :46 was tied.

Marlon Williams gutted through an injury to post a double-double with a game-high 19 points and a game-leading 11 rebounds. The 19-point effort led five in double figures as DaMaryon Fishburn was next with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a perfect 2-for-2 clip from downtown, while Caron Williams checked in with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point land. Fishburn hauled in six rebounds and [Caron] Williams corralled seven.
 
Josh Hines tallied 12 points and added five rebounds and Malachi Irving rounded out five Monarchs in double digits scoring with 11 to go along with four rebounds in the hard-fought win.
 
The fourth-ranked Monarchs visit Oakland Community College, a team ranked earlier in the season and currently the first team outside of the Top 25 in the receiving vote section, on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 3 p.m. in Auburn Hills.