Historic Run For Prince George’s Men’s Basketball Ends In National Tournament

The Owls 2022-23 men's basketball season officially came to an end in the NJCAA National Championship being played in Herkimer, New York following a loss to Mohawk Valley Community College in the opening round and later victory in a consolation game versus Dutchess on Thursday, March 16^th.

The Owls, who were playing in the National Championship for the first time in school history as a division III program, entered as the No. 8 seed out of 12 teams vying for a national title. Prince George's earned their spot in the tournament after receiving an at-large bid (also a first for any sport ever offered at the college), and were matched up against No. 9 Mohawk Valley who was similarly one of the four teams in the tournament granted an at-large bid.

Unfortunately for Prince George's the Owls couldn't get the lid off the basket in the first half versus the Hawks while Mohawk Valley cruised to a 46-23 lead by halftime while shooting just under 50% from the floor and nearly 54% from deep. Despite attempting more shots than the Hawks (38-30), the Owls managed to connect on only 6 tries from the floor and 3 of them came from deep in what was the worst offensive half by Prince George's on the season.

Facing their biggest deficit of the year with the next step towards a National Championship on the line, Prince George's responded with a 64-point second half which marked a new season high for the Owls to put the pressure on Mohawk Valley. The Owls found themselves still down by 21 with under 6 minutes to play against the Hawks who had an answer for each run the Owls tried to put together before Jasir Tremble helped bring life back into the Owls season. Tremble, who finished with a season-high 37 points which included 29 in the second half alone, scored 9 straight at one point to cut the Hawks lead down to 11 before teammates Elijah Crawford and Anthony Simmons each scored to bring the Owls within single digits for the first time since early in the contest. The Owls would come as close to within 4 (91-87) in the closing seconds before Mohawk Valley tacked on another free throw to seal the 92-87 loss for Prince George's in the opening round on Wednesday, March 15^th.

Tremble finished as the game's leading scorer while also adding 4 steals on the defensive side of the ball while teammates Anthony Simmons and Deonte Cooke each had 13 points in the loss.

With the loss to Mohawk Valley the Owls were officially eliminated from contention for the national title but still had a chance to go out on top when they took on the loser of the other first round game on their side of the bracket, No. 12 Dutchess Community College in a consolation game the very next day at 10 AM.

The Owls seemed to have a short memory from the day prior as they came out hot against the Falcons on Thursday, building up a 17-point first half lead on 51% shooting from the floor which was more reflective of their performances for the majority of the year. Prince George's was effective primarily on offense the entire game during which the Falcons never held a lead. The Falcons managed to close in on the Owls but Prince George's did enough to stay in front of Dutchess and finish out the season with a 90-85 victory to finish the year 25-5.

The Owls 25-win season came in just the first year of action with Terrell Harris at the helm and tied the highest program win total since the 2005-06 season when Prince George's was a division II member. 

Nine student-athletes wrapped up their junior college careers as an Owl following their trip to Herkimer, seven of which had two-year careers in a Prince George's uniform. Anthony Byrd returned to play after previously playing on the 2016-17 Maryland JUCO Tournament Championship team while fellow sophomores Deonte Cooke, Reed Rebstock, Jahari Simon, DaJuan McMillan, Anthony Perry, and Andreas Muten all wrapped up their careers with a trip to the National Tournament following last year's Region 20 Championship. Joining the sophomores were transfers Elijah Crawford and Anthony Simmons who closed out their lone season with the program.

With year one under his belt, coach Harris aims to be back with a return to the National Championship for the 2023-24 season with a chance of adding to the history of the men's basketball program in Largo, MD.