Waubonsee falls in NJCAA National Tournament opener

It was not the start Dave Heiss was looking for as his Waubonsee Community College men's basketball team competed on the highest of stages.

"We fell behind early," Heiss said.

Tuesday morning at the Mary Morris Center on the campus of Danville Area Community College, the Chiefs were making their first appearance at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II national tournament in six years.

But ninth-seeded WCC could not overcome Deion James' brilliant play for Tucson, Ariz.-based Pima Community College.

The Washington State recruit, despite playing only three-plus minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, scored 24 of his game-high 31 points in the second half to lead the Aztecs to a 93-84 win.

Waubonsee (25-9) will face Southern Maryland in the consolation bracket of the 16-team, double-elimination tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

Eighth-seeded Pima improved to 22-11.

"The first half was kind of our demise," Heiss said. "We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We had 16 turnovers and missed 7 free throws. You can't do that in a national tournament."

"They came out of the gates really fast," St. Charles North graduate and WCC sophomore guard Alec Goetz said. "We were, maybe, too excited. We made too many dumb mistakes early in the game."

Pima scored the first 8 points of the game and never trailed in advancing to the Elite Eight.

The game figured to be a high-octane affair offensively as the teams entered the contest averaging a combined 190 points per game, with the Aztecs the national leader at 100.8 points.

The Chiefs' first-half issues with miscues and missed free throws were further exacerbated by an inability to close at the rim.

"We missed several easy baskets," Heiss said. "We didn't finish."

Trailing 40-30 at halftime, WCC fell behind by 17 points early in the second half.

Goetz hit a pair at the free-throw line with 9:37 to play to reduce the Pima spread to single digits, 61-52.

But Jacob Anastasi and Jones hit consecutive 3-pointers for Pima to quickly restore its double-digit lead.

"They definitely made some timely shots," said Goetz, who finished with 17 points.

The Chiefs halved their first-half turnovers after halftime with 8, and the Aztecs actually turned the ball over 28 times for the game.

But the WCC turnovers were still hard to overcome.

"They always came at inopportune times (in the second half)," Heiss said.

WCC would not go away, however.

The Chiefs were back within single figures five times in the waning minutes.

Germaine Roebuck was particularly effective in leading WCC with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

Deon Ward and Dominic Martine were also in double figures for the Chiefs with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

But leading WCC scorer, West Aurora alumnus Tyrone Carey, fouled out with 4:04 to play, 11 points under his 20-point average.

"The game was won and lost at the (free-throw) line," Heiss said of the Aztecs' 35 made free throws.