DMACC men's basketball team wins NJCAA Division II National Championship

• Championship is the first in school history
• Sophomore Christian Haffner of Gresham, Wis., leads DMACC with 23 points
• Bears use a 20-0 run in the second game to come away with the win

Sophomore Christian Haffner of Gresham, Wis., led four players in double figures with 23 points as the DMACC men's basketball team defeated Davidson-Davie Community College (DDCC), 86-75, to win the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II national championship April 24 at Danville, Ill.

Sophomore Zach Hobbs of Mesa, Ariz., had 19 points and sophomores Mark Bradshaw of Chester, Penn., and Ryan Schmitt of Van Meter scored 14 and 13 points respectively as the Bears closed the season at 21-5 with the school's first ever men's basketball national championship.

"We knew (DDCC) was going to throw punches and we were going to throw punches and we just had to make sure we could withstand them," DMACC head coach Brett Putz said after the game. "At the end of the day, we had to play DMACC basketball. We had to be us. That's kind of been our thing for two weeks, being who we are is good enough to win and we proved that tonight."

DMACC and DDCC traded punches often. The Storm used a 10-1 run to open up an 18-6 lead six minutes into the game and DMACC put together a 19-4 spurt for a 30-23 advantage with 7 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first half.

The Bears settled for a 44-39 lead at intermission, then fell behind 55-49 as DDCC outscored DMACC 16-5 in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half. The Storm led 66-59 with 8:38 to play when a 20-0 run by DMACC all but put the game away for the Bears, giving them a 79-66 lead with 2:49 left. DMACC led by as many as 15 points in the final minute and a half.

The Bears shot 57 percent, hitting 28 of 49 field goal attempts. They were 11-of-20 from three-point range and 19-of-24 from the free throw line. Haffner was a key contributor from three-point range, hitting seven of his nine attempts.

Schmitt grabbed 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double as DMACC came away with a 39-31 advantage on the boards. Sophomore Willie Guy of Cedar Rapids dished out 12 assists to go with seven points.

DMACC advanced to the championship game with a 69-61 win over Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) rival Iowa Lakes Community College (ILCC) in a semifinal matchup on April 23. And the Bears needed all 40 minutes to come away with their third win of the season over the Lakers.

DMACC led throughout the first half and had a 37-24 lead at halftime. But ILCC opened the second half with a 22-7 run for a 46-44 lead with less than 12 minutes remaining in the game.

DMACC regained the lead at 48-46 on a three-pointer from Hobbs and a free throw from Schmitt and never trailed the rest of the way, but never really put the game out of reach until the final two minutes when the Bears led by as many as 10 points.

Guy and Hobbs led DMACC with 15 points apiece, Haffner had 14 and Bradshaw and Schmitt scored 12 apiece. The Bears shot 35 percent for the game, making 15 of 43 field goal attempts, but were just 4-of-17 in the second half. Free throws kept them in the game as they hit 22 of 30 in the second half alone and finished the game with 31-of-49. The Bears were 8-of-17 from three-point range. ILCC had a 54-38 advantage on the boards, including 23 offensive rebounds. Schmitt led the Bears with 11 rebounds and Guy had three assists and two steals.