Covid-19 sophomore (CoSO) Jadan Graves of Syracuse, N.Y., scored 21 points, Allen Udemadu of Lagos, Nigeria, had 13 points and CoSO Noah Parcher of LaCrosse, Wis., finished with 12 points as the DMACC men's basketball team began defense of its 2021 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II national championship with a 76-59 win over Parkland College (PC) in the first round of the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship earlier today at Danville, Ill.
The Bears, seeded fourth, pulled away from the 13th-seeded Cobras in the second half to improve to 26-7 for the season.
DMACC never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 10 points at 20-10 before settling for a 35-33 halftime advantage. The Bears trailed for the first time at 43-42 on a basket by PC's Savon Wykle just more than six minutes into the second half. DMACC was down 49-48 before taking the lead for good on a three-pointer by sophomore Hakeem Odunsi of Iowa City with 11 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. The basket ignited a 14-0 run that saw the Bears open up a 62-49 lead with just less than six minutes to play. DMACC led by as many as 19 points in the final minutes.
DMACC shot 57 percent, hitting 26 of 46 field goal attempts. Graves made six of nine three-point attempts as the Bears shot 50 percent from beyond the arc, making nine of 18 attempts. They were 15-of-21 from the free throw line.
DMACC had a 40-28 advantage on the boards with Graves' six rebounds leading the Bears. Sophomore Michael Hartford of McKinney, Texas, came away with five and Covid-19 freshman (CoFR) Goanar Biliew of Denison, Odunsi and freshman Greg Brown of Omaha, Neb., had four apiece. Parcher and Brown dished out five and three assists respectively and Biliew had two blocked shots.
The DMACC men's basketball team will play either Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) or Scottsdale Community College (SCC) in the quarterfinals March 17 at 8 p.m. MATC is seeded fifth and SCC is seeded 12th. The tournament continues through March 19 at Danville, Ill.