Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Luke Bronkema's Raiders run for a third straight National Tournament appearance ended Saturday night in the NJCAA District 9 Championship held at Grand Rapids Community College.  The Ancilla College Chargers came out on top 93-70, avenging the two losses they had against the Raiders in the previous two District Championships.  In all three meetings the #1 seed came out on the losing end.  The Raiders, whom won the conference this year for the first time since 2004, finish the season with a 24-8 record.  The Chargers will head to Danville, Illinois with a 22-9 overall record.  They will represent Region XII along side St. Clair County CC and Lakeland CC who respectively won their districts as well as the lower seed. 

Friday night's Semi-Final between the Raiders and Mid-Michigan College was not even close in the first half.  During a six minute stretch in the middle of the half, the Raiders went on a 19-0 run making it 36-11. They extended the lead to 28 with nine seconds to go before a controversial technical was called on the Raiders starting point guard, David Hearns (Hazel Park, MI) who drew the tech after making a layup.  Just three seconds later after the Lakers Jaylen Rutherford (game high 31 points-9 rebounds) made two free throws the Raider bench drew another controversial tech. Rutherford would sink both of the those throws and then a buzzer beating jump shot and at the half it was down to a 22 point Raider lead.

With 15 and a half minutes left in the ball game, Hearns was called for the third controversial tech of the game.  That one played a critical part in the outcome of the District Championship game as Hearns was ejected and unable to play in the finals. The Lakers would eventually work the deficit down to just 5 (77-72) with 1:36 left, but Cam Spicer (Grand Rapids, MI) scored the next four points and the Raiders would hold on for the 82-75 win.  It was third straight year the Raiders beat the Lakers in Districts.

All-Tournament guard, William Otole (Grand Rapids, MI) scored a career high 27 points in the win on 8 of 10 shooting, including 7 of 9 from behind the arc. Ike Kanu (Grand Rapids, MI) (who also made the six player All-Tournament Team) finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks.  Sammie Ryans (Kentwood, MI) finished with 13 and Spicer chipped in 11 and 4 assists.

In the Championship Game, the Raiders led for the first 12 minutes of the game, before a 10-0 run gave the Chargers a 28-22 lead with 6:18 left in the half.  A Ryan's three with 3:27 on the clock gave his team back the lead, 32-30, but the Chargers finished the half on a 12-5 run to lead 42-35 at the break.

It was a single digit deficit for much of the second half for GRCC, until a 12-0 Charger run turned a 67-59 game into a 79-59 game with 4:51 remaining and Ancilla cruised to a 23 point victory.

Otole and Kanu each led the Raiders with 18 points a piece while Ryans finished with 16.  Kanu also tallied 11 rebounds and was 8 of 12 from the floor.  Spicer, making the start for Hearns, totaled 8 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

It was the third straight 20 win season for Bronkema's Raiders. In his three years, his teams finished 72-32 overall and 38-16 in conference play.  The Raiders won two district championships, one Western Conference championship and finished 6th place and 8th place in nationals.  The 6th place finish from just one year ago is the second best finish in the 100 year history of Raider Basketball.

Statistically, out of the 19 teams in the MCCAA, the Raiders finished second in three pointers made (290), second in rebounding (47.7/game), fifth in assists/game (16.6) and fifth in three point percentage (35.1%).

The 2018-19 MCCAA Post Season Awards were also announced on Monday.  Bronkema was named Western Conference Coach of the Year and three Raider sophomores were honored with the following:

Sammie Ryans: All-Region/All-MCCAA/All-Western Conference First Team (2nd in voting)...  The Conference Player of the Year Runner-up was the MCCAA's top scorer, scoring 612 points in 31 games. He finished second in three pointers (106) just one short of St. Clair's Derrick Johnson, but made 3.3/game which was the best in the league. His 19.1 points/game ranked him 8th in the MCCAA and his 80.7% from the free throw line ranked him 9th.... On the season Sammie scored in double figures all but two times, had 15 games of 20+ and two games where he scored 31.  He knocked down at least one three in all but two games and went a season best 7 of 12 at Lake Michigan College.

Willie Otole: All-Region/All-MCCAA/All-Western Conference First Team (4th in voting)... Otole finished the season as the Raiders second highest scorer with 430 points and averaging a cool 13.9/game.  The two guard ranked fourth in the MCCAA with 94 three pointers made and was seventh with a 41.4% clip from behind the arc.... Otole was third on the team shooting 77.8% from the free throw line, third with 110 assists, and had the best assist/turnover margin.... On the season Willie scored in double figures all but six times, had 7 games of 20+ and had a season high 27 in the District Semis against Mid-Michigan College.  He knocked down at least one three in all but three games and went a season best 7 of 9 in that career night against Mid-Michigan.

Ike Kanu: All-Western Conference Second Team (10th in voting) and Defensive Player of the Year... Kanu was one of two Raiders to play and start all 32 games, while averaging a double double.  His 11.7 points/game ranked him fourth on the team and his 11.5 rebounds ranked him first.  In the MCCAA, Ike was the number one rebounder with 369.  He also ranked first with 155 offensive rebounds.  His 25 blocks ranked him 13th best in the MCCAA... Ike ended up with 18 double doubles and had a career best 21 rebounds against Kellogg Community College.  His career best in points was 25 (on 10 of 12 shooting) in a triple overtime thriller at Hope College.

For a complete list of all the MCCAA Post Season awards click here.
For a final composite of this season's statistics click here.
For a look at all of this years photos visit our Flickr site here.