'A perfect storm': MATC men's basketball team captures elusive national championship in record-setting season

The party started again for the Milwaukee Area Technical College men's basketball team once the Stormers knew they were getting closer to home.

Hours earlier on Saturday, MATC had won its first National Junior College Athletic Association Division II national title after beating eighth-seeded Macomb, 86-65, in the championship game in Danville, Illinois.

The elation led to the usual on-court and locker-room celebrations, but exhaustion after grinding through four games in five days set in once the Stormers piled onto the bus for the three-plus hour trek back to Milwaukee.

"Maybe when we got about 10-15 minutes outside of Milwaukee, the guys had a portable speaker and they cranked that up," MATC associate head coach Travis Mrozek said. "They listened to some tunes, kind of got things rocking a little bit."

The No. 7 Stormers (32-4) became the highest seed to win the NJCAA championship, and their run to the title gave the program its most victories in a season.

Ke'Varius "KJ" Taylor scored 20 points and Mikale Stevenson added 17 as the Stormers cruised in the championship game.

"(Saturday) was a little bit of a perfect storm and one of those things that kind of go along with the format of the tournament and our style of play," Mrozek said. "We're very aggressive, up and down. We push the ball. We want to get up the floor.

"And they are a very defensive-minded team. They want to slow you down. They want to try to trap you. And the fact they played in overtime the night before and the fact that their team isn't nearly as deep as we are, we knew that our style of play and pushing the ball and wearing them down was going to be in our favor."

Everything comes together for a talented MATC team

The path to the title opened up for MATC with three of the top four seeds not making the semifinals. The Stormers knocked out second-seeded Niagara County in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

"Early on (this season), we knew we had talent," Mrozek said. "But it's through the whole process of a year that you can see a really good team.

"And then at the national tournament, once you are able to get there, there's always a little slice of luck that goes along with getting a chance to grind your way through that. For us, we've been Division II for five years and four of those years we've qualified for the national tournament."

As the seconds ticked down against Macomb, the Stormers finally got their celebration.

"It's a little bit easier when it's not a nail-biter," Mrozek said. "And it doesn't have that anxiety and you can enjoy the moment a little bit more and be a little bit free.

"It's one of those things that we've had so many good teams and sometimes the ball hasn't bounced your way and something happens that kind of hurts your team. And when it's right there, it's a sense of relief and you're excited for those guys and that moment and they get to experience that."

A strong foundation has been built at MATC

Mrozek has been working with MATC head coach Randy Casey for 17 seasons, two at Mid-State Technical College before 15 together with the Stormers.

MATC has been a winning program under Casey, but the Stormers finally have their elusive national title. The MATC coaches thought they would get a crown in the 2019-20 season, ranking No. 1 most of the year and losing only one game while leading the country at 103 points per game.

But the NJCAA playoffs shut down that March - along with the rest of the world - with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Stormers missed the national tournament in the 2020-21 season but regrouped the last two years. And on Saturday, they brought the national championship trophy to Milwaukee on that long trek home.

"As a program, it's a relief," Mrozek said. "On the bus ride home, one of our other coaches on a staff, he was blown away and said, 'I've got more people reaching out to me than when I had kids born.'

"And we've got former players and other coaches, tons of people that are reaching out to us and congratulating us. A lot of our players that were reaching out, even from that 2019-20 season, we always tell them that they are a part of this.

"Everything that we've done has been a building block, that foundation that those guys built that got us to this point. Those guys from the 2019-20 season, this is a little bit of their championship as well."

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MATC men's basketball team wins first national NJCAA championship