Both the Madison College men’s and women’s basketball teams tipped off their 2022-23 seasons in the first week of November. The two teams have first-year head coaches in James Roscoe for the men and Mike Mayfield and James Adams for the women.  

Both teams were also looking to bounce back in home games on Nov. 4, after suffering season-opening losses a few days prior.  

The WolfPack women’s basketball team, coming off its worst winning percentage in school history in 2021-22, took on Iowa Central Community College in the first game of the night. 

The Tritons of Iowa Central had an advantage in both size and depth. Despite this, the WolfPack fought hard in the first half. 

After falling behind 32-15, they ended the half on a 17-7 run to cut the lead to 7 points at halftime.  Madison College’s rally was short lived, however, as the Tritons began the second half with an 18-3 run and never looked back on their way to an 82-65 win.  

The WolfPack struggled with the Tritons’ full-court press for most of the night, which resulted in a lot of turnovers and fast break opportunities for Iowa Central.  

Some positives from the game were the WolfPack’s three-point shooting and defensive intensity, which resulted in the Tritons’ offense turning the ball over frequently.  

Jordanna Davis led Madison College with 19 points, while Reyna Knox added 17 points. 

Madison College’s women basketball team has a four-game road trip before their next home game on Nov. 15. 

The WolfPack men took on the Mesabi Range Community and Technical College Norse from Virginia, Minnesota, in what was a very hard-fought game.  

In the first half the WolfPack were outplayed in many aspects, as the Norse’ defensive intensity and overall energy suffocated the WolfPack, leading to a 10-point halftime deficit.  

Overall, the WolfPack struggled with boxing out, turnovers and really couldn’t get into an offensive groove at all in the first half.  

Coach Roscoe and his team made some second half adjustments. The first play of the second half was a pick and roll with guard Cortez Telfered and forward Keith Hoffman that ended with a Hoffman layup.  

In the first half, the WolfPack struggled to get paint touches and overall couldn’t take advantage of the Norse switching every screen on defense. This was corrected in the second half as the WolfPack were able to use Hoffman’s size better when a smaller defender was switched onto him.  

That adjustment, along with better boxing out and guard/forward Telin Porter being able to play more after being on the bench in foul trouble for most of the first half, led the WolfPack to score as many points in the first 10 minutes of the second half as they did in the entire first half.  

With under 10 minutes to play, the WolfPack pulled with 42-42, which led to a very exciting back-and-forth finish to the game.  

The Norse held a 52-51 lead late when the WolfPack were able to finish the game on a 9-1 run, leading to an impressive 60-53 win.  

The trio of Telfered, Hoffman and Porter were the only players on the Pack to score in double figures and they combined for 41 of the teams 60 points.  

Hoffman scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds to lead the WolfPack. Porter added 13 points and three steals, while Telfered had 10 points and six rebounds. 

The WolfPack men’s basketball team has a four-game road trip coming up before their next home game on Nov. 15.