Brookdale CC wins third NJCAA basketball title

HERKIMER - For the third time in 11 years, the Jersey Blues of Brookdale Community College are men's basketball champions of NJCAA Division III. And the tournament's first-time hosts would like to bring the event back to the Mohawk Valley.

The Jersey Blues, seeded third, rallied in the second half and defeated No. 1 Sandhills Community College 90-82 at Herkimer College on Saturday in the championship game of the 12-team tournament played over four days.

Brookdale (31-3) had previously won the tournament in 2013 and 2018. Sandhills (30-5) entered this year's tournament as another two-time champion.

"When you get kids who want to be good and want to work to be good, you can do big things," Brookdale coach Paul Cisek said.

Brookdale finished the season with 17 consecutive wins, including going on the road to beat Northampton Community College in the Region XIX championship game to secure a spot in the national tournament and help earn a first round bye. Northampton was also a national semifinalist as the No. 5 seed.

Sandhills led by as many as 11 points in the first half Saturday, breaking away from a tie at 22 and leading 45-34 before Brookfield ended the first half with the final four points at the foul line.

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The teams traded baskets early in the second half and Sandhills led 58-49 following a thunderous dunk by Bryan Quiller that prompted a Brookdale timeout with 15:18 to go. Quiller and Jamori McDougald went to the bench and Brookdale started its comeback. The Jersey Blues scored six straight points to start a 15-6 run that tied the score. Brookdale took a 69-68 lead two minutes later on a basket by Nick Williams at 7:15.

The Williams basket was part of a 12-0 run and Brookdale would not trail after that. The Jersey Blues had previously led only 13-11 for 24 seconds in the first half.

Award Winners

Kevin Mateo scored 24 of his game-high 31 points in the second half for Brookdale and was named the tournament's most valuable player. Mateo played all but 15 minutes of Brookdale's three tournament games and scored 61 points with 11 assists and nine steals.

Joining Mateo on the tournament's all-star team were Brookdale teammates Darnell Askew and Williams, and Sandhills' McDougald and LeNijel Robinson. Michael Marable and Titus Wilkins from Northampton, Peyton Dunham and Kameron Givens from the Rochester Community and Technical College, Matt Elliott from the College of DuPage, and Luis Reynoso from Northern Essex Community College were also honored.

Askew had 20 points and nine rebounds in the championship game and Williams had 18 and nine. The Jersey Blues also got 11 points and 12 rebounds from Niles Halliburton.

McDougald had 14 points and 11 assists for Sandhills, and Robinson scored 10 points. Quiller led the Flyers with 21 points in the loss and Jaquan Thurman had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Givens scored 22 points Saturday and Dunham had five with nine rebounds as Rochester, seeded 10th, beat Northampton 68-53 in the third place game. Marable had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Northampton which played without Wilkins.

Reynoso (19 points, 13 rebounds) and Elliott (17 points, 8 rebounds) were their teams' high scorers in Saturday's opening game, an 89-66 Northern Essex win over DuPage for fifth place.

Cisek suggested his team's trainer had been the actual MVP. Andre Wells played 22 minutes Saturday after 25 in Friday's semifinal win over Rochester. Wells and Ronn Flood Jr were too sick to play Thursday in the quarterfinals and neither dressed for that game. Flood made a late appearance in the championship game.

Rochester Wins Women's Tournament

The Rochester Community and Technical College won its second national championship on the same floor where it won its first: its own home court at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.

The Yellowjackets defeated Minnesota West Community and Technical College 73-53 Saturday in an all-Minnesota final. No. 5 Minnesota West (30-5) led No. 3 Rochester (27-1) 34-32 at halftime before being outscored 24-11 in the third quarter and 17-8 in the fourth.

Olivia Christianson, the tournament's most valuable player, scored 31 points with eight steals and six rebounds in the championship game, and had 73 points in the Yellowjackets' three tournament wins.

Riverland Community College defeated Owens Community College, the No. 1 seed and defending champion in the third place game, and Region III champion Fulton-Montgomery Community College, the second seed, was beaten 74-59 by Anoka-Ramsey Community College in the fifth place game.

2024 Tournament Up for Bid

The NJCAA has not yet set a site for its 2024 tournament and is accepting bids for a three-year contract to host. This year's tournament gave Herkimer a chance to showcase its facilities and abilities to run and organize the event; it also gave Herkimer a chance to gauge its interest in making a longer future commitment.

Bids for the 2024-26 Division III men's tournaments are scheduled to be reviewed at the NJCAA convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 10-14.

"We are very enthusiastic, and we are interested in hosting again," Don Dutcher, Herkimer's director of athletics and the tournament director, said after the championship game and 17th game in four days. "It takes a total team effort for us through the week, all the way from teams arriving Monday on Day 1. Setting up practice space and time, and organizing the banquet, we are working to make this a first class tournament."

The teamwork expended beyond the campus and Dutcher thanked Dave Fontaine and Dominic DiMaggio, his counterparts at Utica University and Mohawk Valley Community College, respectively, for making their facilities available for additional practice space.

Herkimer is the third New York site to have hosted the national tournament. The tournament was played at SUNY-Delhi the first 20 years after NJCAA play was split into divisions, and SUNY-Sullivan hosted in Loch Sheldrake from 2011 to 2016 and again in 2018. The tournament has also been played in Rockford, Illinois, and Rochester, Minnesota, where Herkimer won its 2019 championship. The women's Division III tournament was played in Troy, Corning and Utica from 1992 through 2008 and returned to Mohawk Valley Community College's Utica campus in 2017.

Herkimer hosted women's soccer in the fall and will stage the Division III softball tournament in Syracuse for the third time coming up in May. Both national soccer tournaments are heading to Gastonia, North Carolina, for the fall of 2023 and 2024.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Brookdale Community College men win third NJCAA basketball title