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It was a bittersweet night for the Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s basketball team Wednesday, Feb. 18. Though it dropped a heartbreaking buzzer-beater to Delta College, it clinched a berth in the MCCAA tournament.

After sophomore Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Michigan) dropped in a 3-point shot to give MCC a 78-76 lead with six seconds left, Delta called a timeout to regroup. Once the Pioneers inbounded the ball, a pass found Jimmy McCrum in the corner who buried a long 3-point shot as the buzzer sounded.

“There was a slight miscommunication on a switch, letting someone drive to the basket for a heavily contested corner three,” Dawson explained about the last play. “I thought we should have played behind them, packing it all in having nothing behind us. This would have forced them to take a double-teamed shot.”

Dunn finished with a game-high 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Centurions Head Coach Zach Ingles called the game against Delta one of the best games of the season as far as college basketball action goes.

“You don’t ever want to be on the losing end of a buzzer beater, but it was a great game,” Ingles said. “We had the opportunity to be in a game with a really good team.”

The Centurions made a valiant effort to come back and take the lead late in the game after being down by as many as 14 points with 9:32 minutes to go. Showing it can fight back is what Dunn said impressed him the most about his team.

“To come back and take the lead took a lot of heart,” he said. “We know we are the better team, but it just didn’t fall our way.”

Delta went into halftime leading 43-40 but went on a 14-3 scoring run to push its lead to 54-46 after Jaylen Carthan sunk both free throws with 13:12 to play. The Pioneers (6-6 MCCAA North, 9-14 overall) managed to establish their biggest lead, 64-50, after Darrion Youngblood slam dunked a shot with 9:51 to go.

MCC then went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 64-60 after Vlada Djordjijevic (Vranje, Serbia) sunk a 3-pointer with 8:13 to go. The teams traded baskets, with Delta establishing a six-point lead a few times until MCC made a push late in the game, much thanks to Dunn who hit a 3-pointer with 37 seconds to cut Delta’s lead to 76-75, and then, 30 seconds later, he hit another three to give MCC a 78-76 lead, which set up Delta’s game-winning shot.

Despite the loss, the Centurions (7-5 MCCAA North, 14-12 overall) still clinched a playoff spot and are currently in third place in the MCCAA North, behind conference champion Mid Michigan, which is 12-0 in conference play, and Bay College, which is second with an 8-3 record.

With two games remaining in the regular season, the Centurions still have an opportunity to host the first round of the MCCAA tournament playoffs if they stay in the third seed spot. Winning out the rest of the way would solidify MCC’s position.

“It’s great to clinch a spot, but I have zero time to think about it because we have two games to go and our goal this year was to host a playoff game,” Ingles said. “Everything is still in play. The goal was to keep grinding and moving this program forward, which we’ve done.”

The Centurions’ two remaining games are against North Central Michigan, which will be Saturday, Feb. 21, and at Kirtland Community College, Tuesday, Feb. 24. The Centurions beat both teams in their first meetings, beating NMC 74-54 Jan. 31, and beat Kirtland at home, 58-54, Jan. 24.

Dunn said he is excited to see what the Centurions can do, both in these next two games and the postseason tournament.

“It feels good to secure a spot in the tournament. We feel like we can make a big run,” Dunn said. “These next two games leading up to the playoffs are huge. Obviously, we want to win, but dominating these upcoming games will give us confidence heading into the tournament.”

Along with Dunn’s individual statistics, the Centurions were also led by sophomore Zhian Briggs (Augusta, Georgia), who scored 12 points and had four rebounds and three assists, and sophomore Makur Reclow (Louisville, Kentucky) scored 11 points.

Ingles is confident his team will shake off the loss and refocus on the next two games. He said his players have weathered the storm of losing their leader, Taylen Carver (Louisville, Kentucky), and have “led by committee,” relying on its strengths in numbers, thankfully avoiding more losses to injuries.

“This late in the season, we are showing a little bit of everything,” Ingles said. “Grittiness, physicality, immaturity, restlessness, muscle and showing we can get off our butts. I think the positives have outweighed the negatives. I mean, we had four freshmen on the floor at one time against Delta. I think that shows growth for the future.”

UP NEXT: MCC will host North Central Michigan this Saturday, with tip off at 3 p.m. The evening will honor the sophomores and their careers at MCC. Sophomores include Makur Reclow, Mason and Dawson Dunn, Andrew Badder, Josiah DeMeester, Zhian Briggs and Taylen Carver.