STILL DANCING

By GARY STALLARD

AC Athletics

            They're still dancing.

            For just the second time in Angelina College history, a men's basketball team will compete for a national championship at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament on the hallowed floors of the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.

            AC's Roadrunners on Sunday learned they'd earned a coveted at-large bid and will enter the national tourney as the No. 12 seed.

            Not since a Guy Davis-led team in 1998 have the Roadrunners made the trip to "Hutch." The 2020 team under former coach Nick Wade qualified after winning the regional tournament, but the pandemic wiped out the entire nationals experience.

            For current head coach J.J. Montgomery, a former Davis protégé in just his third year as head coach for the Roadrunners, the significance of the event isn't lost even a little.

            "This is just a true testament to how great God is," Montgomery said following Sunday's Selection Show "Watch Party." "None of this happens without Him.

            "I'm just excited for this group of guys, this whole team. They've worked their tails off since Day 1, and they deserve this after all the work they put into this. People on the outside don't always understand the sacrifice that goes into this stuff every single day, every week, every month. These kids never complained, they never got down. They were always ready for battle and ready for practice."

            The Roadrunners earned their bid by virtue of a consistent national ranking nearly all season long (the team finished the regular season at No. 12 in the nation) and a solid 26-6 record.

            However, had there been any questions regarding the team's legitimacy, the 'Runners answered it by finishing the year as the No. 1 defensive team in the nation.

            How does a coach sell his team on focusing on defense? It's not as if every growing up with a hoop in the driveway or street goes outside to practice defense.

            "With this newer generation, everybody wants to score," Montgomery laughed. "They watch the NBA, and they see those guys scoring big.

            "But Coach E (assistant coach Eric Colbert) and I from the very first day talked to this group about the importance of defense."

            Montgomery said he and Colbert talked up the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" of the '80s – a group consistently ranked among the NBA's best every year. The coaches also told their players of the old Cincinnati Bearcats teams that made the NCAA tournament every year, primarily because of defense.

            "We told the guys this group would have to be an outstanding defensive team if we really wanted to reach the national tournament," Montgomery said. "Our sophomores bought in and stepped up, and the freshmen just followed.

            "There was never any complaining or pushback, and to be honest with you, they take a lot of pride in shutting teams down with our defense."

            Another early hurdle for the coaches to overcome was the emphasis on stats. Basketball is a numbers game, and game reports rarely offer anything other than offensive statistics. A solid defensive player may excel in a game, and few would read about it.

            "Those types of players, guys like Daemon Ely, who could have been the Defensive Player of the Year, show up every game knowing they're probably not going to get a ton of recognition," Montgomery said. "But as a team, we know what guys like Daemon and Christian Jones bring to the game defensively, and their efforts are contagious.

            "As a whole, our guys knew from the beginning they weren't going to play 30-40 minutes every game. Like I said, it was all about sacrifice, and I've never seen an entire group of kids saying, 'Whatever you need from us, Coach' the way all these guys did. This is one of those special groups of players you'll always remember, just because they've been so hard-working and unselfish."

            The 12^th-seeded Roadrunners get their first taste of national tournament competition against No. 21 seed South Georgia State. That game tips off at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 23.

            Tournament games will be live streamed on ESPN+, with the championship game scheduled for broadcast on ESPNU.

            For further information, contact AC's Sports Information Director Gary Stallard at gstallard@angelina.edu.