2001 NJCAA Division II National Champions

"This was our goal at the very beginning of the year," said JCCC sophomore All-American Jimmy Hubbard. "This is what we've been working for , especially the sophomores for the past two years."

Freshman guard Brandon Sims, who was named the tournament's MVP, hit four three-pointers and led the team with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Sims averaged 20.8 over the four tournament games. Hubbard, who was an all-tournament selection, also hit four three-pointers and finished with 21 points. Freshman point guard Chris Lollar, who was awarded the A. Fred Pohlman Sportsmanship Award, had 11 points and seven assists. Sophomore forward Joel Yeldell hit three from downtown and finished with 16 points, and sophomore center Mark DeBaun poured in 13 points and nine rebounds.

However, Mott's run to the NJCAA D-II championship game went through three of the top five teams in the country. Johnson County, ranked No. 4 in the final NJCAA poll, made sure it wasn't the fourth.

Mott (33-4) had other ideas early in the game, starting the game on a tear. Mott scored on 12 of its first 15 possessions and had an early 32-19 lead on Johnson County. But the Cavaliers remained undaunted.

The turning point wasn't an offensive burst, but a change in the team's defensive scheme.

"We changed our defense when we were down 13 points," said head coach Mike Jeffers. "We switched from a man defense to a matchup zone, and got back in the game."

The defensive switch confused Mott and JCCC held the Bears scoreless the final six minutes, three seconds of the first half. The Cavaliers scored the final 14 points and followed with the first five of the second half, building a 51-40 lead.

While Johnson County was the most accurate three-point shooting team in the tournament, hitting 44.9 percent of its attempts, Mott did come back with some perimeter marksmanship of its own. The Bears hit four during a 16-5 run that produced a 56-56 tie with 13:43 remaining.

"We were hoping to get them to play our style (run-and-gun), but they did a better job of executing their game plan than we did," said Mott head coach Steve Schmidt.

Johnson County then blitzed the Bears with a 21-4 run, capped by its record-tying 15th trey with 7:36 remaining. The Cavaliers then slowed the game down. Johnson County remained patient on the offensive end by working the ball inside and around the perimeter before finding the open shot. JCCC head coach Mike Jeffers said his basketball team is the best he's ever coached.

"This has been tremendous," Jeffers said. "This is the greatest bunch of kids I've ever coached."

The Cavaliers began the run for the title on Wednesday night by escaping with a 91-89 victory over a very quick Community College of Rhode Island squad. Hubbard secured the victory when he swatted away a three-point attempt at the buzzer. The victory was JCCC's first in a national tournament. Johnson County lost both games it played in the 1976 national tournament.

The Cavaliers led by 12 points at halftime and built a 20-point lead early in the second half before Rhode Island battled back. Cavalier turnovers also helped in Rhode Island's comeback, but JCCC won the battle on the boards, 62-35. Hubbard led JCCC with 20 points, followed by Sims with 19 and DeBaun with 16. Hubbard also topped 1,000 points for his career in the victory, becoming the seventh player in JCCC history to score more than 1,000 points in a career.

In the quarer final round, Sims scored 21 points to lead JCCC to a 65-45 victory over Kirkwood (Iowa). Sims hit 8-of-12 shots and nailed two three-pointers. DeBaun added 10 points. Kirkwood fell prey to the first-round bye curse as one of three team to lose in its first tournament game.

The Cavaliers used an early 9-0 run to take the lead and then an 11-0 run late in the game put them ahead to stay.

"I thought we played a lot smarter and we stayed within our game plan," Jeffers said. "You get to this point and its all about execution. Both teams are going to play hard."

The semifinals presented a hostile environment for the Cavaliers, as they faced host Danville Area Community College. Because of the home-court advantage, many people picked Danville Area to win this year's championship, but Johnson County had other plans.

The Cavaliers led 15-5 after a 10-0 run left Danville fans staring in disbelief. But the Cavaliers lead was short-lived as the Jaguars hit the next 11 points to claim the lead.

Johnson County had full control the rest of the way and handed the hosts a 65-57 loss. Sims again led the Cavaliers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. DeBaun added 12 points and Hubbard scored 11 points with four assists.

"They kind of played this up like Rocky and the Russians," said Jeffers. "Rocky didn't get back up this time."

Danville struggled offensively and their strength this season has come from the free throw line shooting around 70 percent. But on this night, the Jags only went to the line three times - and only made one - eliminating their biggest strength. On the other hand, Johnson County went to the line 28 times.

"They (Johnson County) did a great job of not letting us get to the basket," said Danville Area head coach John Spezia. "They're also the best passing team I've played against in 10 years. That's one of the key reasons they got us,"

Johnson County built leads as large as 13 points during a time it switched to a zone defense.

"Their players competed, but the zone hurt them and that's where we extended the lead," said Jeffers.