WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — It was sophomore Monte Morris’ birthday June 27 at Valley Southwoods in West Des Moines, but fellow sophomore and teammate Matt Thomas stole the spotlight.

In game one of the YMCA Capital City League on June 27, Thomas lit up the scoreboard with 46 points, shooting a scorching 19-of-26 from the field, which included 8-of-14 from behind the arc.

Thomas added 10 rebounds and five assists to his effort, helping to propel Adio Chiropractic to a 143-119 win against Capital Orthopedics & Sports Medicine.

Morris shared the stage with Thomas on his birthday and he shared the ball with everyone in a game that saw him drop 26 points and deal out a Capital City League record 24 assists.

The two ISU guards proved too much for Capital despite the return of redshirt junior Abdel Nader, who tallied 40 points and 13 rebounds in a losing effort.

Freshman Clayton Custer followed up his 45 point performance on June 25 with 25 points on June 27, which were accompanied by nine assists.

Game two on the evening saw Walnut Creek YMCA square off against Renaissance Granite & Quartz in a matchup that was hyped earlier in the day on the platform of social media.

A good-natured back and forth between sophomore transfer Hallice Cooke and junior Georges Niang developed on Twitter as the two used keyboards to spar about the results of the upcoming contest.

The debate was a toss up, but the game ended up going the way of the ISU newcomer.

Cooke teamed up with fellow transfer, redshirt junior Jameel McKay, to lead YMCA to a 113-101 victory over Niang’s Granite squad.

The loss had little to nothing to do with Niang’s play, however, as he returned to the court to score 43 points on YMCA to go along with 16 rebounds.

Junior Kourtlin Jackson scored 22 points and grabbed nine boards as well, but the collective effort was not enough to overcome a dominating performance by McKay.

McKay was a force in the paint all night long and filled up the stat sheet with 31 points and 19 rebounds. Cooke added 21 points of his own, including 12 from behind the arc.

The final game of the evening pitted Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Atlantic against Phoenix Renewable Resources, which was missing both of its ISU players, junior Naz Long and senior Daniel Edozie.

The short-handed Phoenix team fought valiantly in a 152-143 loss.

Redshirt sophomore Sherron Dorsey-Walker led the way for Coca-Cola and flirted with a triple-double, as he poured in 45 points to match 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

Senior Dustin Hogue dropped in 34 points and nabbed 20 boards, an improvement from his six rebounds June 25.

The ISU players return to the court at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School on June 29 for another set of three games. The first tip will be thrown at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free to the public.