DANVILLE, Ill. – The run at a 2023-24 National Championship came to an end in the Sweet 16 as Macomb Basketball dropped a heartbreaker to North Central Missouri College, 82-80, on Tuesday (March 19) in Danville, Ill. The record-setting campaign continues in the consolation bracket on Wednesday against Johnson County (KS) at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT.

While a shot at the title is gone, a victory in Wednesday's game over a tough Johnson County team not only extends the season but will set a program record for wins in a season.

The Monarchs couldn't get shots to fall early and but continued to battle and only trailed by six at the break, 46-40. Second half action saw North Central Missouri push their lead out to 15 before the Monarchs climbed all the way back to take the lead in the waning minutes of the contest.

Unfortunately, the Monarchs couldn't hang on as the large deficit would prove to be too much to overcome in the Sweet 16 setback.

Kyle Millender (Detroit, Mich./DEPSA) paced six Monarchs in double figures with 14 points and was followed by Josh Hines (Macomb, Mich./Dakota/U-Indy) and Tymias Williams (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) with 12 points each. Tate MacKenzie (Ypsilanti, Mich./Lincoln) was a key reason for the comeback effort in the second half and finished with 11 points, while Nate Brown (Flint, Mich./Davison) and Juwan Maxey (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) finished with 10 points each.

To the entire team: Thank you for the memories and for a history-making 2023-24 season. We wish you the best of luck the remainder of the tournament.

To the returners: The two-year run is undoubtedly the best in program history, and we can't thank you enough for everything you poured into the program to make that a possibility. Thank you and we wish you nothing but continued success.