Men’s Basketball: CCC Prepares to Battle DCTC

The Region IX champion Central Community College men's basketball team will host Dakota County Technical College in the NJCAA Division II Basketball North Plains District Championship. The game is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, at Raider Fieldhouse and will be livestreamed at www.cccraiders.com.

The Raiders are 20-10 and have won seven consecutive games. The latest was a 94-79 triumph over Southeast Community College in the Region IX title game last Saturday. CCC built a 20-point lead in the second half and cruised to the victory. Sophomore guard Tre'vion Crawford led all scorers with 31 points.

Crawford leads the Raiders in scoring with 20.4 points per game and four rebounds per contest. He also sports a team-best 39.3 three-point shooting percentage. Nathan Frost is CCC's top rebounder with 9.1 boards per game to go along with 16.1 points per game. Roman Behrens leads the Raiders in assists with nine per contest and 15.3 points per outing. Tre Mikkelsen averages 10.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

"I'm happy for our guys that we are still playing," said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "We've talked about how there are a lot of teams we've played this year whose seasons are over already, so we are grateful to still be playing and have a chance to get to the national tournament. Every team wants to be playing their best in February and March and we've been able to do that.  Hopefully, we can keep it going."

The Blue Knights are also 20-10 on the year following an 85-71 win at United Tribes Technical College in the Region XIII title game on Saturday. DCTC shot 57 percent from the floor and held UTTC to 35 percent (30-87) field goal shooting.

Sophomore guard Harlyn Owens leads the Blue Devils in scoring with 22.5 points per game to go along with 5.7 rebounds per contest. Amitri Collins-Westlund averages 15.3 points and 4.5 boards per game, while Lorenzo Smith is right behind with 14.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per outing. Dashawn Walker lead DCTC in rebounding with seven boards per game to go along with 14.7 points per contest.

"DCTC looks and plays like Southeast CC, very athletic," said Ritzdorf. "They like to run in transition and they can turn your mistakes into easy buckets very quickly. Harlyn Owens is extremely talented so it will be important for us to do a great job on him and make him uncomfortable. But DCTC is not a one-man team by any means. It should be a great game and it will take a big-time effort defensively to get the win on Saturday."

Saturday's DCTC-CCC meeting is a rematch of the district championship in 2017, where the Blue Knights pulled out a 68-65 come-from-behind win at Raider Fieldhouse.

The winner of the North Plains District Championship will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Danville, Ill., March 17-21.