MASON CITY, Iowa – When the NIACC Trojan men played the Riverland Community College Blue Devils on November 9, the Trojans came back from 18 points down in the second half to escape with an 87-85 win on a missed three-pointer at the buzzer.
The rematch on Wednesday wasn’t that close.
Sophomore post player Kendale Dunn (So., Cleveland, OH) had 19 points, while five other Trojans scored at least 10 points in an 84-60 win over the Blue Devils on Wednesday night. The win moved the Trojans to 6-7 with a two games left before the winter break.
The Trojans had good scoring days from plenty of freshman. Darius Wilson (Fr., Dowagiac, MN) followed up a 24-point performance against Madison Area Technical College last week with 12 points against Riverland.
Chris Davis (Fr., Colorado Springs, CO) and Dominique Wright (Fr., Colorado Springs, CO) both scored 11, while Dejoni Norris (Fr., Waterloo, IA) and Nathan Brandt (Fr., Burlington, WI) both scored 10 points.
The Trojans and Blue Devils traded runs in the first half with the Trojans striking first. A 15-4 run by NIACC took a 7-7 tie to a 22-11 lead halfway through the first. Dunn had nine of those 15 points.
The Blue Devils responded with a 17-8 run to make it 30-28 with six points from both Jeff Clark-Neal and Wayne Canady in that span. NIACC entered the break with a 37-32 lead.
Outside of Clark-Neal, who’s 15 first half points helped Riverland stay close at the break, the Blue Devils had a terrible day shooting. Riverland shot just under 30 percent (29.6) for the game.
The Trojans shot 18-of-36 for the second half and sealed the game with a 25-9 run. The run expanded what was a 40-36 lead to 65-45 lead in a six-minute period. Dunn scored seven points during that stretch.
Riverland’s Zach Bunch, who scored 40 points in the earlier meeting, wasn’t a factor for much of the game, and finished with 13 points. Clark-Neal had 19 points and Canady had 14 points.
The Trojans will next travel to the Mesabi Range Classic in Virginia, Minnesota to play Mesabi Range Community and Technical College on Friday, and Hibbing Community College on Saturday.
