DANVILLE, Ill. – A dominant showing! Macomb Men's Basketball never trailed in a wire-to-wire 77-48 victory over 11-seed Johnson County on Monday (March 18) to open NJCAA Division II National Championship play. The convincing win propels the Monarchs, the tournament's 6-seed, into the Elite 8 against the winner of Tuesday's Kirkwood/Kansas City Kansas game. Kirkwood is the 3-seed while Kansas City Kansas is the 14-seed.

Tip-off for the Elite 8 contest is set for 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT Wednesday evening.

As for Monday's tournament opener, the Monarchs led by double digits five minutes into the contest and never relinquished their large advantage. The Monarchs led 45-20 at the half behind a 57.6% shooting clip from the field and an even 50% effort from 3-point range.

Despite not shooting a free throw for the entirety of the contest, the Monarchs led by as many as 33 and outscored Johnson County by a 30-18 margin in the paint.

Josh Hines and Jotham Nweke led the Monarchs with 16 points each. Hines tied for the team-high in rebounds with seven while Nweke corralled five. Marlon Williams was the lone other Monarch in double figures scoring with 13 points and added a team-high-tying seven boards and a team-best four assists.

The trio combined for seven 3-pointers on the evening and nearly outscored the opposition altogether.

Malachi Irving put together a strong outing and went on to post nine points, Davion Guity had seven and Lajuan Holloway recorded a balanced six points, five rebounds and three assists.

Caron Williams checked in with five points and five rebounds to close out a well-rounded night on the hardwood in Danville.