T-Birds Upset No. 1 seed Collin at Region V Tournament 

The NMJC men's basketball team upset Collin College 67-57 Friday night in the first round of the Region V Tournament.

The Thunderbirds came into the game as the No. 4 team out of the WJCAC and Collin sat atop the NTJCAC standings. The T-Birds are now 2-0 against the Cougars this season. 

Defense was the emphasis in the first 10:00 minutes of play with the T-Birds and Cougars only scoring 26 points combined. NMJC forward Antwaun Massey made a layup with 10:08 left in the half to give the Thunderbirds a 14-12 lead. Collin from that point on wouldn't have a lead the rest of the game. 

Guard Azavier Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the Thunderbird lead to six points, 24-18, with 4:19 left in the half. A pair of free throws by Jeremiah Cherry gave NMJC an eight-point advantage at the 1:36 mark of the first half. Collin battled back in the final 1:30 and cut the lead in half to head into halftime down four points, 32-28. 

The end of the half had a somewhat controversial play. Bear Cherry threw down a dunk as time expired and drew the foul, but the basket was waved off because it was after the red lights. Upon further review the foul was before the buzzer sounded, however the referees decided to not have Cherry shoot free throws and upheld the call. 

The Cougars came out with energy in the second half and tied the game up at 35 apiece with a jumper by Matt Lewis at the 15:45 mark. The Cougars didn't know yet, but that was the closest they would come the rest of the game.

Ayuel Ayuel came off the bench and hustled his way to second chance baskets at the 15:21 and 14:06 mark to put NMJC in front by four, 41-37. 

NMJC men's basketball head coach Luke Mackay said Ayuel is exactly the type of teammate you can root for. 

"Ayuel is just a winner and a wonderful person," Mackay said. "For 30 games he has done exactly what we asked of him and when he's in he stays positive and uplifts others with his play."

NMJC guard Trey Harris threw down a breakaway dunk to give the T-Birds a three-point, 43-40, lead with 12:11 remaining.  

Then, the Antwaun Massey show arrived. Massey made three of the next four buckets for NMJC including what can be characterized as the turning point play of the game. 

Chaydon Stone was driving to the basket and put up a floater that missed, but Massey came in and cleaned up the shot with a put-back dunk to give NMJC a 51-46 lead at the 7:28 mark. The play led to a technical foul on Collin College's head coach and NMJC went from up three to up seven, 53-46, in a span of five seconds. 

Massey's heroics were not done yet. The T-Birds clung to a three-point lead 57-54 when Massey stole the ball from the Cougars. He took it coast-to-coast and threw down a thunderous and-1 dunk to put the Thunderbirds in front by five points, 59-54. 

"Twauny was a huge difference maker for us," Mackay said. "He is the ultimate competitor that only cares about winning and will do whatever it takes. He was a defensive force and all over the court and the boards."

The Cougars were within three points with under 3:00 to go and could not get anything to fall. NMJC made free throws the rest of the way and won by 10 points, 67-57, to advance to the Region V semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15. 

Coach Mackay was pleased with execution and effort he saw from his guys in the first round matchup against Collin College. 

"The guys played with fantastic effort," Mackay said. "These Day 1 games with adrenaline pumping and defense on high alert will often turn into effort and energy games. Our guys stuck together and played very hard and it showed on defense and on the boards."

Antwaun Massey recorded a double-double with 12 point and 12 rebounds. Leo Torbor also had a double-double in the win over the Cougars. The sophomore guard went for 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Chaydon Stone finished with 15 points on the night. Azavier Johnson was one point shy of a double-double as he posted nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Thunderbirds were 25-of-59 (42.4%) from the field, shot 2-for-17 (11.8%) from three, and 15-for-30 (50%) from the line. The T-Birds held the Cougars to 36.1% from the field.

NMJC will face a familiar WJCAC foe in the Region V semifinal Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. CDT. The Thunderbirds will take on Clarendon College for the second time in eight days and third time this season.

The T-Birds won at home 80-75 on Feb. 5, but dropped the second game 97-88 on the road March 7.

"We match up well with Clarendon. We split our games during the season," Mackay said. "They have the best scorer in the NJCAA so anytime you have a guy like that you're always in the mix to win any game. We have to do a great job of defending and rebounding to counter their ability to score."

The T-Birds weren't the only team from the WJCAC to win. The conference made a clean sweep of the north's 1-4 seeds during Thursday's slate.

"The west (WJCAC) sweeping the north (NTJCAC) shines a light on how good our conference is," Mackay said. "The league sometimes gets undervalued because if you only see W's and L's you don't see how talented and well coached the league is and we sometimes end up hurting ourselves because we beat up on each other."

NMJC 23-8 (9-7) will play Clarendon College 22-9 (11-5) in the semifinals of the Region V tournament Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. CDT at Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas.

Click here to watch the stream for Friday'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.