T-Bird MBB Places 4th in WJCAC

The NMJC men's basketball team fell to Clarendon College 97-88 in the final regular season game Thursday night. 

The T-Birds will slot in at No. 4 in the WJCAC standings. Fourth place is the final playoff spot for the Region V tournament on March 14-16 at Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas. 

The first half was as competitive as you will see in a basketball game with the Bulldogs and T-Birds combining for 25 lead changes. The second half was a slugfest. NMJC and Clarendon were knotted up at 53 apiece following a Chaydon Stone 3-pointer at the 14:04 mark. The game was tied up again, 61-61, after Deuce Benjamin hit a jumper with 10:46 to go in the game.

The Bulldogs began to pull away at the 9:11 mark with a 10-2 run to make the lead 71-63. Benjamin made a pair of free throws to bring NMJC within two points, 74-72, with 5:54 remaining. Elijah Bailey kept the T-Birds in it with a 3-pointer at the 3:01 mark to make the score 84-82 in favor of the Bulldogs. The Thunderbirds could not find a bucket in the last 3:00 and were outscored 15-4 the rest of the way losing by nine points, 97-88. 

Jeremiah Cherry was productive inside going 9-of-15 from the field to finish with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. The sophomore center's performance was his third double-double of the year and first in conference. The 10 rebounds matched his season high.

Leo Torbor was one rebound shy of a double-double. The sophomore guard finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Elijah Bailey recorded a career-high 19 points off the bench. The sophomore guard hit four threes and was 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Antwaun Massey finished in double figures with 11 points. Deuce Benjamin added 10 points off the bench. 

The Thunderbirds were 28-of-78 (35.9%) from the field, shot 7-for-26 (26.9%) from three, and 25-for-38 (65.8%) from the line. The T-Birds held the Bulldogs to 40.8% from the field. The two teams shot a combined 75 free throws in the game Thursday night.

The T-Birds tied with Midland at (9-7) in conference. NMJC owned the tiebreaker over Midland head-to-head with a 2-0 record. The Thunderbirds finished fourth in the conference behind Clarendon College (11-5), Odessa College (11-5), and South Plains College (14-2).  

NMJC 22-8 (9-7) will play Collin County College 24-6 (11-3) in the first round of the Region V tournament Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m. CDT at Weatherford College. The T-Birds have already played Collin County earlier this season and won 90-72. 

Click here to watch the stream for Thursday's game. 

Tournament passes are $25 each, and day passes are $10 or $8 for senior citizens or students. Passes for the games can be purchased in advance online at weatherfordcollege.simpletix.com.