ESCANABA, Mich. – The fifth-ranked Monarchs exploded for 137 points, setting a new program record, on their way to downing Kalamazoo Valley Community College by a 137-111 final to move on to the MCCAA Championship on Saturday (March 2) at No. 13 Bay College. The win lifted the MCCAA Eastern Conference Champion Monarchs to 25-3 overall.

Facing a motivated KVCC Cougars team, the Monarchs wasted no time setting the tone and led by 20-plus in each half on their way to the record-setting victory in Escanaba. The Monarchs poured in 71 first half points to fend off a Cougars squad that was hitting shots to lead 71-54 at the break. Second half action saw the Monarchs take control as Juwan Maxey (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) led a balanced scoring charge with 29 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists.

The Monarchs shot 58% overall, moving to 23-0 when shooting 45% or better, and outrebounded the Cougars by a commanding 54-28 edge to improve to 25-0 when collecting more rebounds than the competition.
While Maxey's career-best 29 points led the way, the Monarchs received 20-plus point performances from the hot hands of Josh Hines (Macomb, Mich./Dakota/U-Indy) and Tymias Williams (Macomb, Mich./Dakota). Hines dropped in a career-high 23 points and dished out a career-best seven assists, while Williams posted a stat line of 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Jotham Nweke (Oak Park, Mich./Loyola) tied his career-high with 17 points and Nate Brown (Flint, Mich./Davison) checked in with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. Parker Day (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage/GVSU) grabbed 11 rebounds, scored nine points and dished out three assists to round out Friday's top performers.

The Monarchs will go for the program's second MCCAA Championship Saturday (March 2) at 1 p.m. at No. 13 Bay College.