Valley's Men's Basketball Team Advances to National Quarterfinals

Cougars Beat No. 10 Seed Bryant & Stratton College in Early Round at Nationals

Kalamazoo Valley Community College's men's basketball players were triumphant in their first round of play at the national tournament Tuesday, March 18. With that win, the team advances to the quarterfinals.

The Cougars beat No. 10 seed, Bryant & Stratton College (Wisconsin), 79-64, in their first matchup at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Men's Basketball Championship in Danville, Illinois. Valley is seeded seventh.

Next, they will play North Central Missouri College at 8 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. CDT) on Thursday, March 20 in the quarterfinals. Their opponent is seeded No. 2 in the tournament.

"Congratulations to the men's basketball team. The team played exceptionally Tuesday and I trust they will be ready for the game on Thursday," Athletic Director Russ Panico said.

Win or lose, the Cougars will play again on Friday, March 21. If they win, they play at 8 p.m. EDT in a semifinal game. If the team loses, they play in the consolation bracket at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday. The finals are Saturday, March 22. Visit njcaa.org/network to stream the games.

It's been an amazing ride for Valley's men's basketball players this season, first winning their conference, then being named state champs and next qualifying to compete at the national tournament. Collectively, the team had a GPA of 3.23 for the Fall 2024 semester.

As if that wasn't enough, Valley Head Men's Basketball Coach Jim Horn was named Coach of the Year for the Western Conference of the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) for 2024-2025. Then, sophomore guard Joey Liedel was chosen Western Conference Player of the Year and sophomore MaKyle Doss named Western Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Another point of pride this season was Liedel reaching the rare career college milestone of 1,000 points during a home game on Jan. 4.

A little over a week after winning the state championship in early March, the Cougars learned they qualified for the national tournament. They won the MCCAA State Championship on March 1. The win came on the heels of ending their season on Feb. 26 as Western Conference champs.

Keep up with the team at athletics.kvcc.edu.