The MSJC men's basketball team fought back from an early deficit, took control of the game and then had to hold on down the stretch as they defeated visiting Copper Mountain 73-72 in a key IEAC match up.

The Eagles fell behind by 10 points eight minutes into Wednesday night's contest, but fought back to close the gap to 35-34 by halftime.  The Eagles took their first lead of the game on the opening basket of the second half when Mateo Blocker connected on a three point shot, and would eventually build that lead to 60-50 with 12 minutes left to play.  The Fighting Cacti, however would not go away as they came back to tie the game at 67 a piece with 5 minutes remaining.  After a brief one point lead for Copper Mountain, Cameron Durr made a lay-up with 3:56 left to put MSJC back ahead 69-68, the Eagles would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way, but Copper Mountain did have a shot at the buzzer to win, but Jaylan Bradberry's shot hit off the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Durr had a huge game for MSJC as he finished the night with a game high 29 points, 17 of them came in the first half.  Blocker and Dasean Stevens both ended the night with 13 points each for the Eagles.  Stevens also had 6 assists and 3 steals.  Kyle Render, who was shaking off some rust after returning from injury, added 7 points off the bench in the victory.

The win gave MSJC sole possession of second place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference and improved their overall record to 12-4, they are 4-1 in league play.  Copper Mountain fell to 3-2 in the conference standings and 10-7 overall, they along with Chaffey and Cerro Coso are one game behind MSJC and currently tied for third in the IEAC.

MSJC returns to action on Saturday when they travel to College of the Desert for a 3 pm game.