NIACC's Noah Rigatuso drives to the basket in Saturday's tournament contest against Iowa Western. Photo by NIACC's Arian Schuessler
NIACC's Noah Rigatuso drives to the basket in Saturday's tournament contest against Iowa Western. Photo by NIACC's Arian Schuessler
February 26, 2022

NIACC moves to NJCAA Region XI Final Four

Photos Box Score Box Score

MASON CITY - The NIACC men's basketball team topped Iowa Western 83-77 in overtime Saturday night in the opening round of the NJCAA Region XI men's basketball tournament in the NIACC gym.

The game was tied 67-67 at the end of regulation and the fifth-seed Trojans outscored the fourth seeded Reivers 16-10 in the extra session to advance to Sunday's regional semifinals.

NIACC (20-11) faces top-seed Kirkwood (22-7) at 7 p.m. Sunday in the semifinals. No. 13 Kirkwood routed Iowa Central 78-44 in its first-round contest Saturday.

In NIACC's win over Iowa Western, Myles Tucker led the Trojans with 27 points. He also added five rebounds, three assists and one steal. 

Tucker was 10 of 20 from the field, including three 3-point goals.

The Trojans also received 14 points from Noah Rigatuso, who converted a key 3-point play in the overtime. Cortaviaus Seales scored 12 points and Jacques Kelly scored 11 points.

NIACC's Jeffrey Skogen scored eight points and collected nine rebounds. Kelly led the Trojans with a game-high 12 rebounds.

Iowa Western (21-9) was led by Malik Brooks 20 points. Roland McCoy scored 14 points, Sean Black scored 13 points and Dewayne Vass scored 12 points.

NIACC had dropped both regular season contests to Iowa Western. The Reivers won 95-81 in Council Bluffs and 86-82 in Mason City.

It was the first overtime contest in the regional tournament for the NIACC men's team since the Trojans dropped a 75-71 overtime decision at Kirkwood in the 2013-14 regional tournament.

Second-seed DMACC (23-7) faces third-seed Iowa Lakes (21-9) in Sunday's first semifinal contest at 5 p.m. in the NIACC gym. DMACC is ranked eighth and Iowa Lakes is ranked 16th.

The winners of Sunday's semifinals meet Thursday in the regional title game at the site of the highest remaining seed.