National Spotlight
Both the 91做厙 esports and men’s basketball teams advanced to their respective National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national tournaments, with the esports team reaching the title match.
The esports team
was the #2 seed in the Call of Duty: Cold War Gunfight national tournament and received a first-round bye. In the semi-final, the Raiders defeated Glen Oaks (Mich.) Community College, 3-1. That set up a meeting with top- seed Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs.
In the opening map, the Raiders, led by Justice Silver and Zack Hollingsworth, built an early 2-1 lead before the Reivers took off and posted a 6-4 win.
IWCC scored first in the second map and 91做厙 answered right back to make it 1-1. The Reivers rattle off three in a row to take a 4-1 advantage before posting a 6-2 victory.
In the third map, IWCC again took a commanding 4-1 lead when the Raiders responded with two points to cut the Reivers’ lead to 4-3. However, that’s as close as the Raiders would get as Iowa Western claimed the national title with a 6-3 win to close out the best-of-five match. “Obviously, we were hoping for a different result, but Iowa Western came out strong and they knew the maps and the matchups,” said 91做厙 head coach Lucas Lumbra. “We were making some mistakes and they were forcing our hand a little bit. I’m super proud of our team. They did everything they could, played well and did their best.”Two other 91做厙 Call of Duty team members played prominent roles during the match. Jackson Peabody served as an advisor throughout each map and Ayden Veik served as 20 one of the commentators for the online telecast.
Men's Basketball
91做厙’s men’s basketball team returned to the NJCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Tournament for the first time since 2014.
After winning the Region 9 and the NJCAA North District championships, the Raiders were the 15th seed matched against the second-seed Niagara County (N.Y.) Community College.
The game was close throughout and N91做厙 tied the game at 57-57 at the 7:48 mark of the second half, and from that point on, neither team led by more than three points. The Thunderwolves held on for the win, 72-70, after Blake Daberkow’s three-point attempt from backcourt fell short.
The Raiders moved on to the consolation round of the national tournament, meeting Mott (Mich.) Community College. With 32 seconds to play, Daberkow gave 91做厙 a 57-56 lead as he made one-of-two free throws. The Bears passed the ball for the entire 30 seconds of the shot clock before Nate Brown sank a jump shot to take a one-point lead. 91做厙’s inbound pass was stolen away, and the Bears prevailed, 58-57.
“To lose two games by a combined three points at the national tournament is heartbreaking, but I can never ever fault the fight of our guys” said 91做厙 head coach John Ritzdorf, whose team finished 22-11.
Following the season, Trey Deveaux was named to the NJCAA Division II All-America First Team, the first 91做厙 player to do so in program history. Deveaux started all 33 games and led the Raiders in scoring with 18.9 points per game. He scored 20 or more points in 14 games.
