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For Zach Ingles, winning means more than just a team’s record or a favorable score on the scoreboard. To him, the ultimate win is seeing his players graduate from his two-year program and connect with another basketball program. 

“Our main goal is to bring in quality kids, win games and move them on successfully,” said Ingles, who took on the Centurions’ new men’s basketball program at Montcalm Community College in 2022 when the college reinstituted its athletics program after a 40-year-plus hiatus.  

Ingles has seen a few players from his first two teams go onto graduate from MCC and sign with another basketball program. Four players in particular — twin brothers Mason and Dawson Dunn (Big Rapids, Mich.), Josiah DeMeester (Grandville, Mich.), who came in the second season, and Andrew Badder (Imlay City, Mich.) have all signed onto other basketball programs. 

The Dunn brothers are sticking together and have signed with Kalamazoo College, a Division III team and member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. DeMeester will be joining the Cornerstone University Golden Eagles team for the next two years.  

Meanwhile, Badder is taking a different approach to his basketball career. He will be headed to Manhattan University in Riverdale, New York, where he will serve as a student manager, which he aspires to become a coach himself one day. 

“All of them are still chasing their passion for basketball, which makes me really happy for them,” Ingles said.  

Last season, the Centurions finished 9-5 in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association’s Northern division and 17-13 overall. Ingles’ team qualified for the NJCAA tournament for the second consecutive time, winning its first postseason game, a close 78-77 win against Delta College, before losing to Kalamazoo Valley in the second round. 

Ingles said each of these four players were a key part of keeping the team cohesive and successful, both on and off the court. 

“The simple answer is that they’re all brilliant academically, with all four of them with a 4.0 GPA,” Ingles said. “I enjoy them as humans first. With basketball, we started from nothing and those guys made us relevant really fast in JUCO, faster than anticipated.” 

Badder, who is majoring in business management, is excited for his new venture at his new school, which Ingles helped set up as he has a good relationship with Manhattan’s coach, John Gallagher. 

“I had some great conversations with the coaches and their vision aligned with my goals, so I saw it as a good fit for me,” Badder said. “I’m most excited about learning the ins and outs of how a Division I basketball program runs. Now that I’m not playing anymore, I don’t see it from that point of view. I’m excited to learn from the other side of the game.” 

For the Dunn brothers, continuing to play together in the sport they love was the most important thing. 

“It means the world to me to have my brother play with me all through our lives,” Mason said. “That was a goal of ours, to always play together. Our games complement each other’s really well and I think it’s a cool duo to have for Kalamazoo.” 

The Dunn brothers chose Kalamazoo over a few other schools, including ones from Division III.  

“We wanted to stay in Michigan, so it boiled down to Alma and Kalamazoo,” Dawson said. “Kalamazoo has a great culture and they also have a very similar play style and schemes that we had at MCC, making it a perfect fit.” 

All it took for DeMeester to become comfortable at Cornerstone was participating in open gym, which gave him the opportunity to meet players and get a feel for the campus as a whole. 

“It felt good playing with some of the guys there and if that open gym was any indicator, it felt like it was a level of play that I could succeed at,” he said. “Plus, it was close to home, affordable and I, overall, had a good gut feeling about joining with them.” 

So far, each season, the Centurions have made improvements. Ingles credits his coaching staff’s recruiting strategies, but more so his players sticking with his philosophy, which, he admits, can be challenging.  

“I think we get quality kids. Every coach will say that though,” Ingles said. “But we’re batting a pretty high percentage. Our program is built entirely off hard work. Our players put in a lot of time and effort that people don’t see.” 

According to DeMeester, his experience at MCC provided him with a great opportunity to improve his basketball skills and raise both his physical and mental game to a higher level. 

“Coach Ingles taught me discipline, to put my head down and grind. He demanded a lot out of us at times, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t achieve,” DeMeester said. “And it wasn’t just on the court during practices or games. He demanded excellence academically, too, which forced me to be more diligent with keeping good grades.” 

Badder said his time at MCC was perhaps the most valuable experience of his life. 

“I really grew here as a person and navigated through different challenges of not only being a collegiate athlete, but just as a person trying to figure it out,” he said. “The connections I built here have been awesome. There are some really amazing people here that I’m grateful to have in my career.” 

Both Dunn brothers said they are proud to be part of the “original gangsters” of the Centurions men’s basketball program, and it will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives. 

“Looking back at my career at MCC, I’m most proud of starting a program from scratch and making the tournament both years, as well as being a leader for the younger players,” Mason said. “Overall, I enjoyed the success we had.” 

“Overall, it was a great experience, with a lot of great memories and people,” Dawson said. “I hope our ‘OGs’ are remembered for building that snowball that will roll down the hill come November.” 

Mason said what the Centurions’ Teams 1 and 2 managed to do was to build a program that is now considered one of the best in the league. 

“I’d say that it’s one of the best programs in MCCAA. They teach you fundamentals, the little details that make a team win, as well as develop you as a player and tell you the cold hard truth,” he said. 

Though Badder’s days as a Centurion are over, he believes he and all of his teammates through the past two years will remember that they were part of something special, something new, something that will be remembered in MCC’s history. 

“One of my favorite things here was being on the first basketball team in 40-something years. I felt like we left a legacy and helped build something this college hasn’t had in so long and that’s super special to me,” he said. “I hope that I can be a part of some sort of legacy at Manhattan, too, and be really close with everyone there, just as it was at MCC.”