HIGHLIGHTS | BRACKET
DANVILLE, Ill. – History was made Tuesday (March 21) morning as Macomb Men's Basketball earned the program's first opening round victory at the NJCAA Division II National Championship with a 72-59 win over the Skipjacks of Chesapeake College. The Monarchs—the tournament's No. 8 seed—controlled the game from the opening tip and put the nation's No. 1 scoring defense and No. 1 field goal percentage defense on display in the 13-point triumph over the ninth-seeded Skipjacks.
The win sends the Monarchs into the quarterfinals ("Elite 8") of the tournament. The Monarchs will play the winner of the No. 1 Davidson-Davie vs. No. 16 Florida Gateway game on Wednesday (March 22) at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT.
The Monarchs jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back in the wire-to-wire opening round victory and were sparked offensively by the hot hand of
Aidan Rubio (Flint, Mich./Goodrich/DME Academy). A force early and often in Tuesday's opening round tilt, Rubio was outscoring the Skipjacks on his own 15 minutes into the contest when his second 3-pointer of the afternoon gave the talented freshman 16 points and extended the Monarchs lead to 27-15 with 4:47 remaining in the half.
Rubio poured in 16 first half points on 7-of-11 shooting to help give the defensive-mined Monarchs a 33-23 halftime lead.
The Monarchs defense held the Skipjacks to 29.4% shooting over the first 20 minutes of action while the offense attacked the paint for an efficient 50% shooting effort in the first half.
In the second half, the Monarchs remained aggressive on both ends and extended their lead to as many as 19 points in the 13-point victory. The Monarchs held the Skipjacks to 34.3% shooting overall and a 25.9% effort from 3-point land. On the offensive end, the Monarchs shot 54.5% overall (60% in the second half) and outscored the Skipjacks in the paint by a 42-28 margin.
Rubio led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting and recorded a game-high three blocks, while
Cameron McEvans (Southfield, Mich./Southfield A&T) and
Jaylen Daughtery (Oak Park, Mich./Ferndale) followed in double figures with 11 points and 10 points, respectively. McEvans added six rebounds from the guard position as part of an impressive all-around game and Daughtery hauled in a game-high nine rebounds to accompany his 10-point effort (5-of-6 shooting).
Kareem Aburashed (West Bloomfield, Mich./Country Day) tallied seven points and grabbed eight rebounds, while
Tymias Williams (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) checked in with seven points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Linden Holder (Warren, Mich./De La Salle) and
Tamario Adley (Detroit, Mich./De La Salle) chipped in with six points each with Holder adding four rebounds and three assists and Adley adding a pair of boards and assists.
