MACC GREYHOUNDS SELECTED FOR NJCAA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

#14 Seed Greyhounds play Connors State Monday

The Moberly Area Community College Men's Basketball Team received an At-Large bid to the NJCAA National Tournament to be held in Hutchinson, Kansas March 24-30. The Greyhounds were defeated at #7 Triton College 81-84 on Saturday in the finals of the Midwest District Finals but received one of the 8 At Large berths to the Nationals. There will be 24 teams participating in the National Tournament with MACC making their 32nd appearance at Hutch and Moberly received the #14 seed.

After winning the Region 16 Tournament by defeating #6 Mineral Area 75-71 on the road the previous weekend, Moberly had to travel to Triton to play for the District Championship on Saturday. Moberly got off to a good start and lead the Trojans 47-35 at the half. However, Triton went on a 10-0 run to start the second half and from that point on, the game became a back-and-forth contest with the game being tied in the last minute before Triton secured the win.

"Tremendous effort by our guys against a really good Triton squad," said Coach Patrick Smith, "They are the most explosive offensive team we've played against all season. There were a couple of times during the game we let the flow get away from us and that was the difference. We, as a coaching staff and players, have to find a way to be better, more consistent to win games like this. However, you go from the disappointment of that loss to finding out Sunday during the Selection Show that your work during the course of the season has paid off. We played one of the toughest schedules in the country and it's paid off in terms of our team development and respect from the committee. Extremely proud of our players, coaches and staff and are very excited to still be playing and making another trip to Hutch."

The Region 16 and MCCAC Conference Champs MACC Greyhounds currently have a 25-8 record with the #14 seed for the National Tournament. They will open the NJCAA National Tournament on Monday, March 25 at 10:00 am vs. the Region 2 champion Connors State(Oklahoma) with a record of 31-2.