The FMCC Men’s Basketball team finished their prolific 2022-2023 season at the NJCAA Championship Tournament in Herkimer. Head Coach Ej Gallup led his squad to the National Tournament for the first time since 2007.
“Our first meeting of the season we talked about wanting to continue to move the program forward. We set goals and talked about what it was going to take to accomplish those goals,” stated Head Coach Ej Gallup.
On Wednesday, March 15th the Raiders opened the national tournament as the #6 seed against the 11th seeded DuPage Chaparrals.
FMCC fell behind early, as DuPage took a 11-0 lead to start the game. De’Vante Mateo was able to cut the lead to 11-6 with 15 minutes left in the first half. The Chaparrals would continue to dominate to finish the half leading 51-37.
In the second half, it was all Raiders. They opened the 2nd half on a 20-2 run and took a 65-59 lead with 11 minutes to play.
Both teams traded basket for basket the rest of the way. Nick Butler gave the Raiders an 81-78 lead from the foul line with 22 seconds remaining. The Chaparrals would not give up as they nailed a three with 7.8 seconds remaining to force overtime.
DuPage was able to score the final four points in overtime to secure the 89-85 victory.
Nahjhime Kirton led with 29 points and 17 rebounds. Jelani Moreno tallied 20 points and Kennyh Hardeman with 20.
The loss moved the Raiders into the consolation game on Thursday against #7 Butler County. FMCC led the majority of the first half, but Butler headed into the locker room at the half with a 44-38 lead.
In the second half, The Raiders were able to re-gain the lead at the 12-minute mark. Butler pushed the lead to 10 with 6 minutes to play and FMCC was unable to overcome the deficit.
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