Offense ruled the day as the Milwaukee Area Technical College Stormers men’s basketball team scored their highest point total of the season in a 128-83 defeat of the McHenry County College Scots at Alverno College’s  Reiman Gymnasium on Sunday.

The Stormers soundly defeated the Scots earlier in the season (104-70), however, the ‘win or go home’ nature of tournament play forces teams to not take their opponents for granted. A sentiment not lost on the Stormers.

“You know we beat this team by a decent amount last time we played, but that doesn’t matter,” said guard Chijioke Nwosu. “ Every team can go on a run, and we just have to take it one game at a time and play our game,” said  Nwosu.

   The team entered the tournament as the number two seed behind top seeded Moraine Valley earning both teams a first round bye. The additional time off did not slow down the Stormers powerful offensive.

    Five Stormers scored in double digits with three players scoring 20 or more points. Guard  Karl Blanton Jr led all scorers with 24 points. Point guard Jaylin Scott  scored 21 points and point guard Erik Victorson scored 20 points with six three pointers.  North Central Community College Conference’s  2022 Player of the year, Mason Johnson, garnered the game’s only double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

  “The game plan going in was just for us to be us,” said coach Randy Casey. “We needed to continue to do the things that we do to push our tempo. That is what we have been for the past few years. They came out and did that extremely well today,” said Casey.

    The coach added that the game was a good team effort because his players shared the ball and were locked into the game defensively. 

  “That is what starts our offensive and our quick transitions on defense, we did that very well today,” he said.

   The Scots’ center Sam Stewart only managed to play 18 minutes in the game. The Stormers took advantage of their team’s lack of size by speeding up the game with fast play. A style the Scots were unable to match. The Stormers  forced 25 turnovers and hit 16 three pointers, a season high. The team also blocked seven shots, three of which came from 6’3 guard Chima Nwosu.

      “I think we accomplished our goal of playing fast,” said assistant coach Travis Mzorek. “We just have to make sure to play our game and take it one step at a time and if we do that, we can hang with anyone in the country,” he said.

     Adding to the team’s speed of play was point guard Victorson. The game marked his first start of the season. In high school the freshman averaged 18.1 points in his last year at Oregon High School and was named 2021 Associated Press Div. II all-state team honorable mention as a senior at Escanaba High School in Michigan.  

    Basketball awards and  accolades are commonplace in the Stormers’ deep pool of talented players. Every player is expected to perform above and beyond.  Victorson says his drive to succeed has been a major factor in his play all season.

     “I just had to stay motivated and do what I could to help the team. Going from high school and starting every game to playing the bench but I knew I could help the team and that’s my goal every game,” he said. Victorson played the most minutes on the team picking up four rebounds and six assists in addition to his 20 points.

  The Stormers will play the Braves of Black Hawk College on Saturday, March 5 at Alverno’s Reiman Gymnasium for the Region IV Championship and entry into the National NJCAA Tournament. Tip-off time is at 3 p.m.

    Although a national title is the ultimate goal, Casey said the team will continue to take this tournament season one game at a time.

  “We are going to take this one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves and know that we have to take care of business or our season is over.”

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