The most notable of the wins came in their second-round matchup against Dutchess Community College, the top seed in the national tournament.
DALLAS — “When you go out there, you’ll see ‘we’re from Dallas, we’re from Dallas,'” remarked Dallas College Richland’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jon Havens. “Seeing them have a little bit of pride for Dallas, you might see them play a little harder or have a little more pride in being from here.”
That pride traveled with the Dallas College Richland men’s basketball team all the way to Herkimer, New York, where they competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III National Tournament.
“We went up there and we played the No. 1, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 8 teams in the nation, and we beat three of the four of them,” Havens said.
The most notable of the wins came in their second-round matchup against Dutchess Community College, the top seed in the national tournament.
Following the win, Havens described feeling like “We can do this. That’s the No. 1 seed; we played really well today. We’ve got a chance to win the whole thing.”
He added, “going into that next game, you’re excited, maybe a little more optimistic about what you can do and what the end goal could be.”
With their win over Dutchess, the Thunderducks advanced to the National Semifinals, where they faced the tournament hosts, Herkimer College. They fell 72-59 in the Semifinal.
However, the Thunderducks went on to close out their season with a win. They beat Minnesota State Community & Technical College 86-69 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III consolation third-place game. The third-place finish was their second since 2019.
Despite not winning his second national championship, Havens described this season as being “right up there with the national championship.”
“We’ve had really good teams, we’ve had five national tournament trips in 11 years,” he said. “But this was a team that just defied the odds. Nobody really thought we’d make a run, but they just kept fighting. We did things people didn’t think we could.”
