The Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) men's basketball team, the No. 3-ranked team in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II poll, picked up their second consecutive victory against a ranked team January 15 when they toppled No. 12 Kirkwood Community College (KCC), 78-58, inside the DMACC gymnasium.
The win, DMACC's ninth straight, comes on the heels of a 107-63 victory over fifth-ranked North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) Jan. 11 inside the DMACC gymnasium. The Bears were ranked fifth nationally when they defeated NIACC.
DMACC improved to 16-4 for the season with the win and remained unbeaten in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) at 4-0.
Sophomore Zach Lester of Clear Lake paced a balanced DMACC scoring attack with 16 points. Freshman Ryan Schmitt of Van Meter had 14 points, sophomore Demarion Bariffe-Smith of Skokie, Ill., tallied 13, sophomore Ty Majlik-Autry of St. Petersburg, Fla., had 11 and freshmen Mark Bradshaw of Chester, Penn., and Willie Guy of Cedar Rapids scored 10 points apiece.
DMACC connected on 18 of 30 field goal attempts in the first half, rolling to a 45-25 advantage at halftime. For the game, the Bears were 30-of-55 from the field for 55 percent. They made six of 16 attempts from three-point range and were 12-of-17 from the free throw line.
KCC came away with a 37-34 advantage on the boards with Guy and Majlik-Autry pulling down nine rebounds apiece to lead the Bears. Guy also dished out a team-high six assists and finished with a pair of steals. Lester had three steals and Bariffe-Smith and Schmitt joined Guy with two steals each.
The DMACC men's basketball team will face Iowa Central Community College (ICCC) Jan. 19 at Fort Dodge. The Tritons are 7-10 overall and 2-2 in league play.
