PORT HURON – No. 4 Macomb Men's Basketball earned its fourth ranked win of the season and second over a Top 10 opponent after defeating the previously unbeaten No. 10 Kalamazoo Valley Community College Cougars, 75-71, to close out the Skippers New Year's Classic. The win lifted the Monarchs to 12-1 on the season.
 
Half of the Monarchs' wins in 2024-25 have come against opponents who have been ranked at some point this season (6).
 
Key Stat: The Cougars entered Saturday second in the nation in scoring at 101.6 points per game. The Monarch defense held the high-octane, talented Cougars to a season-low 71 points in the four-point victory.
 
Down seven at the half, 41-34, the Monarchs flipped the script after halftime adjustments and went on to outscore the Cougars by a 41-30 margin in the latter half to earn the hard-fought victory.
 
The Monarchs outrebounded the Cougars, 49-32, including a 20-13 edge on the offensive glass to earn an all-important 16-11 advantage in second chance points.
 
DaMaryon Fishburn (Detroit, Mich./Trillium Academy) poured in a career-high 24 points and added 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. In a game full of big plays on both sides, Fishburn skied through the lane and connected on a floater with 22 seconds remaining to give the Monarchs a three-point lead and secure the ranked win. Josh Hines (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) continued his stellar redshirt sophomore campaign with 22 points and eight rebounds and Jotham Nweke (Oak Park, Mich./Loyola) added 16 points and six rebounds to account for the double-digit scorers on the afternoon.
 
Both Hines and Nweke connected on four 3-pointers. The four triples marked a new career-high for Nweke.
 
The Monarchs host Edison State Community College on Wednesday (Jan. 8) at a special start time of 3:30 p.m.