Former Portageville star Hassell nets 30 in MAC victory

ST. LOUIS -- The Mineral Area College (MAC) Cardinals continued their winning ways with 90-68 victory at STLCC- Florissant Valley on Wednesday night as Portageville native Willie Hassell scorched the nets for a college career-high 30 points.

Behind Hassell's 19 points in the first half and 11 in the closing frame, MAC cruised to another MCCAC conference win. Rickey Claitt added 16 points, Josh Fogler chipped in 10 points off the bench, Caruthersville grad Kyle Hubbard scored nine points and Kennett's Dontavis Jones and Barry Wellington had eight each.

Hassell, who drained four of MAC's 12 three-pointers against the Flo-Valley Norsemen, has been on a hot shooting streak lately. The 5'10" combo guard has led the Cardinals on offense in five of their last seven games.

Hassell's previous high this season was less than a month ago when he torched Moberly with 25 points. He followed that with 22 against State Fair, 18 against West Plains, 14 against Meramec at the Jones Dome in St. Louis, and 15 against John Wood College this past Monday.

Hassell and the Cardinals will travel to Moberly on Saturday to play a Region XVI contest against the Greyhounds. The women play at 5:00 and the men tip at 7:00pm. On Wednesday, Feb. 14, Mineral Area will host STLCC-Forest Park in a MCCAC Conference match-up at the Bob Sechrest Fieldhouse in Park Hills

NOTE: Mineral Area's men's games can be heard on the internet at www.J98.com by clicking on the streaming link to find MAC mens basketball.