Missouri Military Academy was seeing red Friday night at home.

MMA vs Chamois Photo Gallery

The Colonels defeated Chamois 54-26, allowing only eight points in the second half and aggressively taking the ball to the paint. Albert Ogutu led MMA with 18 points and eight rebounds, Tsengeg Bayasgalan was close behind with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Lucas Almeida had 10 points.

Head coach Roger Siwak said he encouraged his players to shoot the ball once they were close enough to the rim — in an area he refers to as the “red zone.” When they were fouled, the Colonels (7-7) sank 9-of–11 of their free throw attempts.

“We have a terminology we call the ‘red zone,’ sort of like football,” Siwak said. “If you get into a certain area of the paint, within about eight feet of the basket, I told our guys before the game, ‘If you get the red zone, be greedy. Score yourself. Don’t give it up.’ Nobody’s going to be mad at you for taking a good shot.”

That aggressiveness and intensity seemed to translate on defense as well as MMA began the game on a 10-0 run, snapped by a Chamois 3-pointer, but the Colonels stayed the course to take a 29-18 lead into halftime.

Six of Chamois’ eight field goals in the game were from 3-point territory as Kaden Wuelling had two 3-pointers and led the Pirates (4-15) with 10 points. Caleb Kielholz followed with one 3-pointer and seven points. Siwak said this was a main concern going into the rematch as MMA just held off Chamois 43-40 earlier this month in the Belle Tournament, coming back in the fourth quarter after the Pirates took a 3-point lead.

“We’ve been working hard on our rotations on defense, and I think it helped,” Siwak said. “We made some adjustments on the way we rotate. Our kids had intensity tonight. Nothing matters if we don’t play hard, and I thought we played hard tonight.”

Ogutu secured 14 points by halftime, floating the ball over the Chamois defense, and then the Colonels kept feeding the big man Bayasgalan inside in the second half, scoring eight points in the third quarter.

In the first meeting, Ogutu finished with seven points after he said the Pirates double-teamed him. He wasn’t used to it, but he said Siwak’s aggressive strategy helped him and his teammates perform much better this time.

“(Attacking the paint) was a main focus for me,” Ogutu said. “We only won by three last game so I wanted to come out and really play hard and show people what I could do.”

Siwak and Ogutu echoed each other saying the Colonels did well rebounding the ball on Friday night as Ogutu and Bayasgalan led the charge, Nathan Dempsey followed with five rebounds to go with his five points and four steals.

“Defensively, it’s kind of an art,” Ogutu said. “You have to know how to box out and know when to jump and really have your head up and look for the ball just to know when to time it right. Also know your abilities and how high you can jump so you can time it perfectly.”

Siwak said Ogutu improved mentally from the first time against Chamois and that turned into positive results on the court.

“He was focused tonight and mentally he was tough,” Siwak said. “I think he played a little freer, and he wasn’t tight. He involved his teammates so that takes a little pressure off.”

His teammates definitely impressed the coaching staff as Siwak said Bayasgalan was a force in the paint, he is “always proud every night” of Dempsey’s effort no matter how much he scores and Almeida has “made great strides” this season.

Siwak said the team as a whole has made great progress from its beginning with little basketball experience. Players like Enock Runazi and Ky-mani Erskine provided minutes off the bench when the Colonels took a 46-21 lead after the third quarter, allowing only a 3-pointer in the eight minutes. Runazi caused the crowd to roar after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“It’s a team win,” Siwak said. “I’ve had guys like Erskine, whether he scores or not, he’s on the board, he’s fighting everything and he’s playing hard. It’s a Colonel win."

MMA played at Paris on Monday, losing 47-33, hosted Sunnydale Adventist Academy on Tuesday and then will play in the Calvary Lutheran Tournament on Friday and Saturday in Jefferson City.