Escanaba, MI –

Riding an eight-game win streak, the Rochester Community and Technical College men's basketball team took the court in the Region XIII Championship against Bay College on Sunday. When the final horn sounded, the Yellowjackets had made it nine in a row, winning the NJCAA Division II Region XIII title and earning the right to host the NJCAA Division II North District championship game on Saturday.

The win did not come easy as the Yellowjackets and host Bay College Norse went back and forth for nearly 40 minutes before a critical defensive stand by RCTC in the closing seconds sealed the 66-65 win and secured the Region XIII championship. The Yellowjackets and Norse went toe-to-toe throughout the game, as Bay went into the half with a 43-38 lead.  RCTC got 9 points in the first half from Quincy Burland and 7 from Keivonte Watts.  RCTC's leading scorer Jerome Cunningham was kept in check in the first half with only 4 points on 2-5 shooting.

In the second half the Yellowjackets defense stiffened and Cunningham came alive.  The Yellowjackets only allowed 22 second half points and Cunningham, who earned the tourney MVP, erupted for 15 second half points of his own.  RCTC trailed 61-62 with four minutes remaining when an Elijah Flenorl rebound led to a Cunningham lay-up to give the Yellowjackets the lead at 63-62.  A Quincy Burand free throw with 2:13 remaining increased RCTC's lead to 64-62. After a Bay College free throw, Devyn Frye scored to give the Yellowjackets a 66-63 lead with 1:13 remaining. A Norse lay-up with :45 remaining cut the lead to 1, and after a missed Yellowjacket jump shot with :13 seconds remaining, Bay had the ball and a chance to win.  Following a timeout, the Yellowjackets defense held and the Norse did not get a shot off as they turned the ball over with 8 tenths of a second remaining.  The Yellowjackets were able to inbound the ball and run out the final tick of the clock to earn the win. Cunningham finished with 19 points, while Watts had 13 and Burland had 10.

With the win, RCTC advances to the NJCAA DII North District championship game against Southeast Community College (NE).  Southeast advances out of Region IX after their 73-66 win over rival Central Community College – Columbus.  The North District championship game will be played on Saturday, April 10 at 4:00 PM on the Performance Court of the Regional Sports Center in Rochester, MN.  The game will be livestreamed at RCTCyellowjackets.com.