Men's Basketball: Thunderwolves Outlast Raiders

The #15-seed CCC men's basketball team lost to #2-seed Niagara County Community College in opening round action at the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament in Danville, Ill.

The final score was 72-70, but the Raiders had an opportunity for the huge upset as NCCC's Jalen Franklin missed two free throws with 4.8 seconds remaining. CCC's Blake Daberkow attempted a three-point bucket from backcourt at the buzzer, but it failed.

In the first half, each team went on significant runs. NCCC struck first with a 17-5 run to take its biggest lead, 28-15, with just over five minutes to play. The Raiders answered back with a 21-7 blast to take a 34-32 advantage at halftime.

The Thunderwolves opened the second half with a 7-0 run to retake the lead and go up by five, 39-34. Again, the Raiders built their biggest lead of the contest, 57-50, by outscoring NCCC 23-11 over a nine-minute span. NCCC tied the game at 57-57 at the 7:48 mark and from that point on, neither team led by more than three points.

"We're disappointed in the result, but we're definitely not disappointed in how we fought," said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "I don't think we played our best, but I still think we had a real good shot to beat a good team at the end. So, I'm real proud of our guys."

Trey Deveaux (pictured #5) led the Raiders in scoring wtih 20 points, which included three, three-pointers in the second half. PJ Davis scored 18 points while Daberkow scored a dozen points. Jayden Byabato rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 points.

Up next, the 22-10 Raiders will meet Mott Community College on Thursday at 11 a.m. #10-seed Mott lost to #7 seed Milwaukee Area Technical College, 83-68, on Tuesday night.