Blazers No. 2 Seed at NJCAA Tournament Next Week
NJCAA DIII Championship Tournament Bracket
Dallas College North Lake men's basketball team was awarded the No. 2 seed in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament next week in Herkimer, New York.
The second-ranked Blazers (25-6) received a first round bye, and will play the winner of seventh-seeded Butler County Community College (Pa.) and 10th-seed Rochester Community & Technical College (Minn.) in the national quarterfinals 5 p.m. CT Thursday, March 16 at Herkimer College. Butler County is 20-4, while RCTC enters the tournament with a 20-7 mark.
All games can be watched on the NJCAA Network or followed via Live Stats.
"It's exciting," Blazers first-year head coach Josh Mills said. "We're happy to have that opportunity. The guys have worked hard at getting that opportunity, and getting the No. 2 seed. Having a bye in the first round is very helpful. We're looking forward to going up there, and giving our best efforts."
North Lake won last year's NJCAA DIII Championship – the program's fourth under former coach Tim McGraw, now an assistant at Louisiana Tech. Four players return from the national championship team, including forward Da'Ryan Williams and guard Darion Jones.
"It's definitely going to help as far as getting the players' perspective on how to prepare," Mills said, speaking on his players' familiarity of the national tournament environment. "Them being here will be good in helping me get those guys focused and locked in to win it. Those returners are important, but we have a pretty veteran team. We're a mature team, and I think that really helped us this year go on that win streak, be successful without too many hiccups."
The Blazers enter the national tournament on a 21-game winning streak after capturing the NJCAA South Central District and Region V title Saturday.
Jones is averaging 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 38 percent from three-point land. Williams is averaging 12.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and just under a steal per game, while shooting 52 percent.
Freshman swingman Jakob Zenon is averaging 12.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and one steal, while shooting 46 percent from the field, 41 percent from the 3-point line and 81.4 percent from the free throw line. Sophomore transfer guard Brandon Lawrence is averaging 11.1 points, four assists and 1.7 steals, while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 70 percent at the free throw stripe. Sophomore transfer forward DeKyre Fuller is averaging nine points, while shooting 50.5 percent from the floor, 47 percent on 3-point attempts and 75 percent at the line. Sophomore transfer forward Ryan Pondant is averaging 7.9 points 5.6 and rebounds, and shooting 56 percent from the field and 73 percent at the stripe.
North Lake's quarterfinal game will mark the first against a nonconference or region opponent since the first month of the season when the Blazers frontloaded their schedule with a challenging series of tests on the hardwood.
"I feel like we're totally prepared for it because of how we played our preconference schedule, by going on road trips, playing against opponents that are supposed to be better than we are," Mills said. "Going on a trip to Lubbock, playing two games there. Going to New Mexico, and playing three games in a row there. That's why we do that – to prepare for the national tournament."