Texas-based North Lake wins NJCAA men’s title

North Lake College became the fourth team from Texas to win the NJCAA Division III men’s basketball championship with a 78-65 victory over Gloucester County College (N.J.) Saturday at SUNY Delhi.

Tournament MVP Chris Aqwumaro finished with 18 points for the Blazers (22-14), who joined Eastfield College (1997), Richland College (1999) and Cedar Valley College (2001) as Texas champions in the 16-year tournament.

North Lake opened its biggest lead, 36-22, with about two minutes left in the first half. The Roadrunners cut it to 49-38 with 13 minutes, 4 seconds left but failed to get closer.

All-Tournament selection Preston McCarter and Kevin Amend scored 10 points apiece for the Blazers.

Larry Morris had a team-high 13 points for Gloucester (25-8), which won the national championship in 1994 and fell in the 1996 fi[an error occurred while processing this directive]nal. All-Tournament pick Travis Gale scored 11 points.

NORTH LAKE 78, GLOUCESTER COUNTY 65

NJCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday at SUNY Delhi

GLOUCESTER COUNTY COLLEGE (25-8): Travis Gale 4-5 2-5 11, Dominic Williams 0-2 5-8 5, Mike McDonald 4-12 0-0 8, James Cook 1-1 0-0 3, Kyle Wakefield 2-5 0-0 4, Kenny Harris 4-10 0-0 8, Jarbarry Moore 3-7 2-3 9, Larry Morris 5-10 3-5 13, Ernie Mack 2-5 0-1 4. TOTALS: 25-58 12-22 65.

NORTH LAKE COLLEGE (22-14): Preston McCarter 4-9 0-0 10, Erik Villareal 1-5 2-3 4, Brandon Brooks 2-3 5-5 9, Lorenzo Anthony 3-4 3-5 9, Frederick Eshon 2-3 0-0 5, Chris Aqwumaro 5-11 7-8 18, Kingsley Iheke 2-2 2-4 6, Chris Okonofua 3-7 1-2 7, Kevin Amend 5-14 0-0 10, TOTALS: 27-58 20-27 78.

Halftime: North Lake, 40-27. Three-point field goals: G 3 (Gale, Cook, Moore); N 4 (McCarter 2, Eshon, Aqwumaro).

Tournament MVP: Chris Aqwumaro (North Lake).

All-Tournament team: Juan Paulino (Finger Lakes), Fred Lyles (Montgomery-Rockville), Matthew Dickens (Gateway CC), Desean Gist (Suffolk CC-Grant), Brandon Jung (William Rainey Harper), Joey Kollar (Rochester CC), Travis Gale (Gloucester), Preston McCarter (North Lake).

W. Rainey 65, Rochester C&TC 51

All-Tournament selection Brandon Jung scored a game-high 25 points to lead William Rainey Harper (Ill.) to a victory in the third-place game. Dane Cruz scored 16 points and Matt Monaghan had 11 for the Hawks (28-7).

Cory Lott scored a team-high 14 points for Rochester Community and Technical College (Minn.). All-Tournament selection Joey Kollar contributed 13 points for the Yellowjackets (23-11), who finished fifth.

WILLIAM RAINEY 65, ROCHESTER C&TC 51

NJCAA DIVISION III THIRD PLACE
WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER (28-7): Dane Cruz 6-13 4-4 16, Matt Monaghan 4-8 1-2 11, Jesse Farder 2-8 2-3 7, Daniel Stone 3-3 0-0 6, Brandon Jung 10-16 5-8 25. TOTALS: 25-51 12-17 65.

ROCHESTER C&TC (23-11): Tyler Lodermeier 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Ganglehoff 3-6 2-4 9, Bob Burmester 1-1 0-0 2, Sean Clarke 2-4 0-0 5, Lucas Blood 0-7 0-0 0, Cory Lott 5-13 2-4 14, Corey Ryan 0-6 6-6 6, Joey Kollar 4-13 5-9 13. TOTALS: 16-58 15-23 51.

Halftime: Harper, 35-19. Three-point field goals: H 3 (Monaghan 2, Farder); R 4 (Ganglehoff, Clare, Lott 2).

Suffolk 70, Gateway 68 (2OT)

Ryan Freely made a three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to give Suffolk a victory over Gateway (Conn.) in the fourth-place game.

Alvin Vicican scored a game-high 20 points for Suffolk (22-10), which also received 17 points and 10 rebounds from Chuka Iloegbu. Tocari Davis scored 16 points and Edvinas Inkrata 14 for Gateway (19-11), the first team from Connecticut to qualify for the tournament.

SUFFOLK CC 70, GATEWAY CC 68 (2OT)

NJCAA DIVISION III FOURTH PLACE
GATEWAY CC (19-11): Sha’Ron Young 1-4 0-0 3, Aurimas Sorys 1-5 0-0 3, Edvinas Inkrata 5-13 2-2 14, Damian Martin 4-14 0-0 8, Tocari Davis 7-14 1-3 16, Matthew Dickens 4-11 5-8 13, Andre Edwin 5-6 1-1 11. TOTALS: 27-67 9-14 68.

SUFFOLK CC-GRANT (22-10): Alvin Vicican 5-12 6-8 20, Ryan Schlachter 1-6 0-2 3, Kavardas Robertson 5-7 1-2 12, Desean Gist 2-6 3-9 7, Chuka Iloegbu 3-17 10-14 17, Ryan Freely 4-16 0-0 11. TOTALS: 20-64 20-35 70.

Halftime: Gateway, 30-22. Three-point field goals: G 5 (Young, Sorys, Inkrata 2, Davis); S 10 (Vicican 4, Schlachter, Robertson, Iloegbu, Freely 3).

Montgomery 81, Finger Lakes 56

Aaron Wilson scored 20 points to lead Montgomery College-Rockville (Md.) to a victory in the seventh-place game. David Jones contributed 17 points, Sylvester Brooks 16 and All-Tournament selection Fred Lyles 14 for the Knights (16-17).

All-Tournament pick Juan Paulino had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Region III champion Lakers (25-11).

MONTGOMERY 81, FINGER LAKES 56

NJCAA DIVISION III SEVENTH PLACE
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE-ROCKVILLE (16-17): Bilal Baisa 0-2 -0-0 0, David Jones 7-13 2-3 17, Beyagi Batchilly 1-3 0-0 2, Andrew Ryan 2-4 0-0 4, Todd Dembroski 1-3 0-0 2, Jonathan Watkins 3-4 0-0 6, Sylvester Brooks 5-9 5-6 16, Fred Lyles 5-11 4-8 14, Aaron Wilson 8-10 2-2 20. TOTALS: 32-59 13-19 81.

FINGER LAKES CC (25-11): Larry King 1-6 0-0 3, Ryan Henry 3-12 1-2 9, Brandon Anderson 2-9 1-2 6, Ryan Weser 6-12 0-0 14, Juan Paulino 10-16 0-4 20, Akeem Anthony 1-3 0-0 2, Rob Hudson 1-3 0-1 2. TOTALS: 24-62 2-9 56.

Halftime: Montgomery, 39-30. Three-point field goals: M 4 (Jones, Brooks, Wilson 2). F 6 (King, Henry 2, Anderson, Weser 2).