NJCAA Game 5: National Park College 74, Johnson County Community College 68

Mar. 18—DANVILLE — Not many teams get a second chance in postseason basketball.

National Park College earned one of four at-large berths in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament and the Nighthawks made it pay off with a 74-68 win over the Johnson County Community College Cavaliers in a second-round contest at the Mary Miller Center.

It's the first time in tournament history that a team, which didn't win either its region or district, advanced to the national tournament and National Park College was the prototypical at-large selection.

The Nighthawks were 27-0 and rated No. 1 in NJCAA Division II basketball when they suffered a 62-60 loss to the South Arkansas Stars in the Region 2 championship. But a week ago, during the selection show, National Park learned that it would make its very first appearance in the National Tournament.

"We are very happy with it and we've so glad this is the year that the NJCAA chose to expand the field," said National Park coach Dillon Hargrove. "Winning 27 in a row is hard to do, but it's also hard to beat someone, like a South Arkansas, who is also in this tournament, three times in a year.

"We came in a with a lot of momentum getting this opportunity to play."

Johnson County, making its ninth appearance, gave National Park (28-1) all it could handle. The Cavaliers (28-6) overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to take a brief lead in the game's final minutes. The Nighthawks finished the game on a 17-8 run to advance into Wednesday's quarterfinals against either Macomb Community College or North Central Missouri College, those teams will play on Tuesday.

All five starters for National Park finished in double figures. Nakavieon White had a team-high 23 for the Nighthawks, followed by Taylor Harrell with 14, Keryn Collins had 13, Patrick Punch finished with 11 and Ja'Bryant Hill chipped in with 10.

Johnson County, which falls into the consolation bracket, got a game-high 27 from freshman Donald Bangham Jr. off the bench, while Kyler Mann had 15 in the losing effort.

National Park College 74, Johnson County Community College 68

Johnson County (68) — Massi Malterer 3-7 3-5 9, Kyler Mann 6-12 3-5 15, Elijah Cole 0-5 0-0 0, Jordan Nichols 0-4 8-8 8, Brandon Mann 3-10 2-4 9, Drake Davison 0-0 0-0 0, Donald Bangham Jr. 9-15 6-9 27, Traymond Willis-Shaw 0-1 0-0 0, Traeger Rager 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 21-55 22-31 68.

National Park (74) — Patrick Punch 4-9 1-3 11, Taylor Harrell 6-8 2-2 14, Ja'Bryant Hill 4-8 1-2 10, Nakavieon White 6-13 9-11 23, Keryn Collins 4-12 4-6 13, Anthony Swift 1-3 1-2 3, Them Koang 0-0 0-0 0, Siddiq Canty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-53 18-26 74.

Johnson County '36 '32 '— '68

National Park '42 '32 '— '74

3-pointers — Johnson County 4-20 (Bangham Jr. 3-6, B.Mann 1-2, K.Mann 0-2, Cole 0-5, Nichols 0-4, Rager 0-1). National Park 6-20 (Punch 2-5, White 2-4, Hill 1-4, Collins 1-5, Swift 0-2). Rebounds — Johnson County 37 (K.Mann 10). National Park 32 (Swift 7). Assists — Johnson County 7 (K.Mann 3). National Park 12 (Hill 4). Turnovers — Johnson County 16, National Park 14. Total fouls — Johnson County 20, National Park 18. Fouled out — K.Mann.

Records — Johnson County Community College 28-6 overall, National Park College 28-1 overall.