(Charlotte, NC) – During the NJCAA's Division II Selection Show on Tuesday afternoon Waubonsee Community College's men's basketball team learned it will face Iowa Lakes Community College in their first-round game at the 16-team, double-elimination 2023 NJCAA Division II National Championship Tournament. The Chiefs (25-8) received the 12th seed and will play the fifth-seeded Lakers (24-8) on Wednesday, March 22, beginning at 1:00 p.m. (CST) at the Mary Miller Center in Danville, Illinois. The winner will advance to play on Thursday, March 23 at 8:00 p.m. against the winner between fourth seeded Danville Area (IL) Community College (24-4) and 13th seeded Johnson County (KS) Community College (26-7). The loser between the Chiefs and Lakers will take on the loser between the host school Jaguars and Cavaliers at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday in an elimination contest. All the tournament games can be seen 'live' on-line at www.NJCAA.org/network.
Waubonsee is making its seventh appearance overall in school history and first since 2017. Coach Lance Robinson's Chiefs were seeded fourth in the Region IV Tournament after finishing third in the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) standings with a 9-5 mark. Waubonsee then scored a hard-fought 92-87 win over fifth-seeded Illinois Valley Community College before stunning the NJCAA basketball world. The Chiefs knocked off fifth-ranked and top-seeded South Suburban College, the defending National Champions, 70-59 to advance to the title game against Bryant & Stratton College from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Midway through the first half of that contest the Bobcats went on a 17-0 run to take a 19-point lead with two minutes left until halftime. The Chiefs cut the deficit to 16 points by the intermission and then rallied in the second half. Waubonsee, which had missed its' first 13 three-point attempts, stormed back to take a 59-58 lead on a three-point basket by Joey Niesman midway through the second period. Clinging to a four-point lead with no timeouts left in the final seconds, Niesman alertly threw an inbounds pass off the back of a Bobcats' defender. He then grabbed the carom, was fouled and calmly sank a pair of free throws to clinch the Chiefs' 77-73 victory.
Niesman, who was named the Region Tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 26.7 points in the three playoff games, leads the Chiefs in numerous categories. For the season the Oswego (IL) High School graduate is averaging 18.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game. The 6'2" guard was named All-ISCC First Team, All-Region First Team and has been nominated for NJCAA All-American consideration. Sophomore guard Jaylyn Kelley averages 15.0 points-per-game (ppg) and leads Waubonsee with 95 three-pointers, while 6'10" center Brice Langford averages 10.5 ppg and 9.0 rebounds per contest, and point guard Duane Doss chips in with 10.2 ppg.
Robinson, in his fourth year at Waubonsee, was tabbed the Region IV Division II District 'B' Coach of the Year. The Danville, Indiana native has guided the Chiefs to 64 wins in his three full seasons at the helm. Prior to taking over at Waubonsee, he led NCAA Division III affiliate Aurora University to a pair of National Tournament berths in the three years he led the Spartans' program. As a matter of fact, from the moment Robinson stepped onto a collegiate basketball court in 2006 to the present, he has never been part of a sub .500 team as a player, assistant coach or head coach.
The remainder of the tournament field includes #1 seed Davidson-Davie (NC) Community College (32-0), #2 seed Niagara County (NY) Community College (29-1), #3 seed Henry Ford (MI) College (26-4), #6 seed Orange County (NJ) Community College (29-1), #7 seed Milwaukee Area (WI) Technical College (28-4), #8 seed Macomb (MI) Community College (25-7), #9 seed Chesapeake (MD) Community College (29-4), #10 seed Mott (MI) Community College (24-8), #11 seed Scottsdale (AZ) Community College (25-7), #14 seed Arkansas State University-Mid South (23-10), #15 seed Central (NE) Community College (22-9) and #16 seed Florida Gateway College (15-11).
