(Danville, IL) – Waubonsee Community College entered its second-round game at the 16-team, double-elimination 2023 NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament as the proverbial underdog. The 12th seeded Chiefs squared off against the 4th seeded, 4th ranked and host school Danville Area (IL) Community College before a packed Mary Miller Center Gymnasium on Thursday evening in the final contest of the day. Looking to advance to the semi-finals for the first time in school history Waubonsee (26-9) fell 83-78 in a hard-fought, intense and action filled contest before a raucous crowd. The Jaguars (26-4) rallied to win in the final minute courtesy of a wide disparity at the foul line as Danville shot 43 free throws with four Chiefs' players fouling out and a fifth starter finishing with four fouls.
The loss knocks Waubonsee into the loser's bracket where they will face top-seeded and top-ranked Davidson-Davie (NC) Community College at 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon in an elimination contest. The previously undefeated Storm (33-1) were upset by 8th seeded Macomb (MI) Community College 66-63 on Wednesday evening. The winner between the unranked Chiefs and the Storm will advance to the 5th place game set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Meanwhile, the only top-5 seed remaining in the winner's bracket, Danville moves on to the Final Four with a 6:30 p.m. match-up Friday versus Macomb for a chance to play in the title game on Saturday evening.
Attempting to take the Jaguars' boisterous home crowd out of the equation early on the Chiefs began the game with a flurry offensively. Waubonsee won the opening tip and got on the board first as Joey Niesman buried a long three-pointer on Waubonsee's second possession. A strong move and close-range basket by Brice Langford, followed by triples by David Robinson and Jaylyn Kelley staked the Chiefs to an 11-3 lead five minutes into the game. After a Jaguars' timeout Kelly hit another shot from beyond the arc as Waubonsee grabbed a 14-4 advantage.
The Jaguars clawed their way back to within two points before Robinson nailed a long three-pointer from the right wing to give the Chiefs a 20-15 lead. Another power move and left-handed shot and basket off the glass by Langford made it 22-16 midway through the first half. Dylan Fuzak knocked down a trey two minutes later and a reverse lay-in by Colton Schutt pushed Waubonsee's lead to nine points at 29-20. Moments later Schutt drilled a three from the left corner for another 10-point Chiefs' lead at 32-22.
However, the home team was able to take advantage of the Chiefs being called for several fouls and put together a 9-0 run to get within a point at 32-31 with five minutes left in the half. Waubonsee built the lead back up to seven points with two minutes remaining before the break. Unfortunately, a shot clock violation by the Chiefs, their second in a two-minute span allowed the Jaguars to get within three points. Duane Doss then connected on a triple from the top of the key with 0:20 to go. Danville's Lewis Richards answered with a three of his own from the right corner at the buzzer to end the first half with Waubonsee clinging to a 41-38 lead.
Two minutes into the second half the Jaguars knotted the score at 42, the first time since the scoring began that Waubonsee was not leading outright. Shortly thereafter Robinson drilled a three-pointer from the left wing to put the Chiefs back in front, the first of what would end up being seven lead changes in the game. The teams then traded three-pointers before a media timeout halted play four minutes into the second half with Waubonsee holding a slim 51-49 lead. Two minutes later Danville took its first lead 56-55 on a 12-foot fade away jumper by Kendall Taylor. As the Chiefs' fouls began to mount the Jaguars were able to build a 59-55 lead midway through the second half.
An offensive rebound and put back basket by Robinson then tied the game at 59-all a minute later. After another media timeout Niesman scored on a drive to the basket to put Waubonsee ahead 61-59 with eight minutes left. Langford then snagged an offensive rebound, scored and was fouled. His three-point play extended the Chiefs' lead to 64-59 with six and half minutes remaining. However, a minute later Danville's Dameriz Merriweather made a twisting, acrobatic circus shot in traffic, with the ball momentarily stopping on the back of the rim before falling through the net as the home crowd went delirious. Merriweather was also fouled on the play and completed the three-point play to tie the game at 64.
As the intense battle headed down the stretch Waubonsee's foul troubles continued to mount as Doss, Kelley and Schutt each were saddled with four fouls. A basket by Niesman gave the Chiefs a 67-66 advantage with five minutes to go. However, Robinson picked up his fourth foul and Kelley was also assessed a technical for his fifth foul to give the Jaguars four free throws. The Jaguars took advantage and nailed all four shots to suddenly take a 70-67 lead with four minutes to go. Not long afterwards Schutt also fouled out as the Jaguars cashed in on two more charity tosses to take their biggest lead at 72-67 with three and a half minutes remaining.
Niesman though answered with a three-pointer and Doss scored inside to knot the score again with two and a half minutes to go. A free throw by Danville put them in front once more by a point until Doss made a pair of free throws thirty seconds later to put Waubonsee ahead again 74-73. After a Danville misfire Niesman then scored on a hesitation move to the basket and the Jaguars quickly answered to make it 76-75 with a minute to go. Looking for a chance to add to their miniscule lead, the Chiefs initially appeared to lose the ball out of bounds with 0:52 remaining. Waubonsee head coach Lance Robinson alertly requested a video review of the play which is allowed in the final minute of each tournament game. After a couple minute review, the officials awarded the ball back to Waubonsee upon seeing that it had indeed gone off a Jaguar player's foot.
Unfortunately, shortly after the ball was inbounded Merriweather made a huge steal and a fast break lay-up to give the home team a 77-76 lead with 0:46 left. With the deafening crowd on its feet the Chiefs worked to regain the lead once more. Doss was then knocked down as he made a drive toward the basket appearing to send him to the free throw line. However, instead Fuzak was controversially whistled for his fifth foul on the play while setting a screen to give Danville the ball back with 0:33 to go. On the ensuing inbounds Robinson was called for his fifth foul, the fourth Waubonsee player to foul out. The Jaguars' Ramelle Arnold converted two more free throws for a 79-76 lead with 0:32 remaining as the momentum swung in Danville's favor. However, the nail-biting contest was still not over as the never-say-die Chiefs continued to fight through all the obstacles.
Niesman quickly pushed the ball up the court and was fouled just three seconds later. The sophomore guard connected on both foul shots to make it 79-78 with 0:30 left. With Niesman and four reserves on the court for Waubonsee, the Jaguars inbounds pass was then deflected in a frantic scramble and ended up in Niesman's hands along the baseline underneath the basket. The 6'2" guard tried to quickly put up a shot from underneath the basket in traffic. However, the ball brushed the side of the rim and backboard on the way up and fell short of making it over the lip of the rim. The Jaguars corralled the rebound and the Chiefs' fouled once more to stop the clock. Ahmoni Weston proceeded to make both of his foul shots with 0:22 to go to make it 81-78. Looking for a potential game-tying three-point shot, Waubonsee then turned the ball over with 0:15 left. This time Waubonsee failed to get a steal on the inbounds pass and another foul with 0:09 remaining resulted in a couple additional made free throws for Danville to close out the scoring.
For the game, Waubonsee held Danville to 29 percent shooting in the second half and only 34 percent (22 of 64) for the entire game. Meanwhile, the Chiefs hit 49 percent of their shots (28 of 57) from the field, including 60 percent (12 of 20) from three-point range. But it was not enough to overcome the advantage Danville owned from the charity stripe. The Jaguars made 34 of 43 foul shots, including 25 of 28 (89 percent) in the second half. Waubonsee finished just 10 of 22 from the line (45.5 percent). Niesman ended the evening with a team-leading 19 points to go along with five assists. Langford booked a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, and also blocked four shots. Robinson tallied 13 points and hauled down seven boards, while Doss and Kelley each finished with nine points in the unsettling loss.
