- CoSO Jadan Graves of Syracuse, N.Y., leads DMACC with 19 points
- CoSO Noah Parcher of LaCrosse, Wis., comes away with 11 points
- Bears fall after trailing by two points at halftime
The DMACC men's basketball team saw its 12-game winning streak end with a 75-62 loss to Kirkwood Community College (KCC) February 23 inside the DMACC gymnasium.
The loss cost the Bears their third consecutive Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) regular season championship. DMACC and KCC both finished league play at 13-3 and will share the title. KCC will have the No. 1 seed in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Division II Basketball Tournament because of its two wins over DMACC during the regular season.
Both teams are ranked in the NJCAA Division II poll. DMACC, the defending NJCAA Division II national champion, is eighth and KCC is 13th.
KCC led just 27-25 at halftime but outscored the Bears 48-37 in the second half to come away with the win. DMACC, playing its fifth game in 10 days, was led by Covid-19 sophomore (CoSO) Jadan Graves of Syracuse, N.Y., with 19 points and CoSO Noah Parcher of LaCrosse, Wis., with 11 points.
The Bears shot 38 percent, hitting 24 of 64 field attempts. They were 5-of-26 from three-point range and 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
KCC had a 44-31 advantage on the boards with Parcher and Covid-19 freshman (CoFR) Goanar Biliew of Denison leading DMACC with seven rebounds apiece. Parcher and freshman Greg Brown of Omaha, Neb., led the Bears in assists with four apiece and Graves and Biliew topped DMACC in steals with three apiece.
The DMACC men's basketball team will face Ellsworth Community College (ECC) Feb. 26 at Mason City in the quarterfinals of the Region XI Division II Basketball Tournament. DMACC and ECC split their regular-season series, each winning on their home floor. ECC finished the regular season at 15-15 overall and 6-10 in the ICCAC. The DMACC-ECC winner will play either Iowa Lakes Community College (ILCC) or Southwestern Community College (SWCC) in the semifinals Feb. 27 at Mason City. The championship game will be played March 3 at the home of the highest seeded team remaining in the tournament.