Danville, IL – The 2019 NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Champion game featured the top two teams for the second straight year; the No. 1 seed, Kirkwood Community College and the No. 2 seed, Johnson County Community College.
Johnson County established an early lead three minutes into the game after David Turner scored the first bucket of the game, then later, knocked down a three from the top of the key.
The lead changed shortly after when Kirkwood went on a 6-0 run, charged by a three-point play from Devonte Thedford and a three-pointer from Connor Kasperbauer.
From there, just before the media timeout, Johnson County ran off an 8-0 streak that included threes from Ja'Quaylon Mays and another from Turner.
The final 11 minutes belonged to Kirkwood, in particular, star forward, Douglas Wilson. Up until halftime, Wilson and the Eagles took a five-point deficit and flipped it into a seven-point advantage.
Wilson powered 13 points in the final 11 after only scoring two points in the first nine minutes. In all, Kirkwood went on a 21-9 run to end the half.
Turner led Johnson County with 10 in the first 20 minutes.
The first four minutes of the second half belonged again to the Eagles. Wilson scored two more buckets, and Thedford another as Kirkwood built their largest lead of the game. Overall a 10-2 run gave them a 15-point lead, 43-28.
Out of a timeout, Johnson County scored five straight after Mays got a three to roll in and General Williams scored another, cutting the deficit back to 10.
With the momentum seemingly shifted, Johnson County forced Kirkwood to take a shot deep in the shot clock shortly under the 14-minute mark. Wilson jacked a contested three from the top of the key. It banked in as the shot clock expired.
The lead pumped back up to 15 after Wilson, including the previous three, rattled off seven points and Kirkwood led 50-35 with 9:26 to go in the game.
Johnson County made their case, knowing their time was running out. Down 15, they went on an eight-point run, and had the lead to a manageable seven points, 50-43 with 7:50 left in the game.
Kirkwood stopped the bleeding, as Luke Appel finished an old fashioned three-point play to bump the lead back to 10.
But the Cavs would not go away. Another eight-point spree sparked by five points from AJ Pleasant and three free throws from Mays brought Johnson County to within two with 5:03 left.
The next possession, Kirkwood worked the ball down in the post while the Cavs were in a zone defense. JCCC collapsed on and the ball was dished out to Seybian Sims who knocked down a wide-open three from the corner.
That play ignited a 7-0 run to establish another nine-point edge for the Eagles with just over three minutes to play.
Mays, who finished with seven of Johnson County's last 10 points, scored four more during another 7-0 Cavs run, as they continued to fight. With 57 seconds to go, Turner knocked down his third three-pointer of the game to cap off the run and make it 60-58.
In Johnson County's final time with the ball in a one-possession game, Pleasant drove across the lane from the left win and barreled into Luke Appel. A charge was called with 13 seconds left and gave Kirkwood the ball, up two.
Thedford stepped to the line and iced the game making two free throws and put the game out of reach.
Kirkwood finishes the season 31-4, and with the win, capped off their second National Championship in four years.
How They Got There:
First Round - def. North Central Mo., 96-66
Quarterfinals - def. Niagara County, 80-65
Semifinals - def. Erie, 84-70