DMACC celebrates basketball national championship

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The DMACC Men’s Basketball Team poses for a photo behind a table filled with trophies received for the winning the National Championship. Besides the first place trophy for winning the championship, there was a piece of hardware for being the Regional Tournament champ and North Central Champ. Photo courtesy DMACC

The DMACC men’s basketball team celebrated its first-ever national title in the history of the college in a championship rally held Tuesday afternoon in the Fareway Fieldhouse on the DMACC Boone Campus.

The DMACC cagers, seeded number two in in the 2021 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament, defeated number-one-seeded Davidson-Davie Community College April 24 in Danville, Illinois, by a score of 86-75 to win the national title.

DMACC culminated its 21-5 season with the team’s second consecutive Iowa Community College Athletic Association (ICCAC) regular-season championship and its first national championship under first-year Head Coach Brett Putz. DMACC was ranked first in the NJCAA Division II poll several times during the season, including three consecutive weeks in March.

Success at the national tournament was a team effort, as demonstrated by the honors bestowed on Putz and sophomore Willie Guy of Cedar Rapids, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and sophomore Christian Haffner of Gresham, Wisconsin, named to the All-Tournament Team and landing the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award.

Sophomores Zach Hobbs of Mesa, Arizona, and Ryan Schmitt of Van Meter joined Haffner on the All-tournament Team, and DMACC head coach Brett Putz was named the tournament Coach of the Year.

Speakers at the championship rally in Boone included DMACC President Rob Denson, DMACC Athletics Director B. J. McGinn, Boone Campus Associate Provost Dr. Rachel Erkkila, Boone Foundation Chair Jim Heckman, DMACC Board member Fred Greiner, Coach Putz and players Guy, Hobbs and Mike Hartford.

Dan Ivis is media liaison with the Des Moines Area Community College.

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