Brookhaven Moves Over .500 in DAC, 2 Games to Play
LANCASTER, Texas – Dallas College Brookhaven's men's basketball team clinched third place in the Dallas Athletic Conference, and will host the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District quarterfinals Tuesday, Feb. 25.
The Bears beat host Dallas College Cedar Valley 86-70 Saturday to improve to 10-18 overall, 7-6 in the DAC. The Suns fell to 10-15, 4-9 in the league.
Brookhaven will play the No. 6 seed in the district quarterfinals. Cedar Valley, Dallas College Mountain View and Dallas College Eastfield all share 4-9 league records with two regular season games remaining to determine the Nos. 4-6 seeds in the postseason tournament. The semifinals and championship games will be played at DAC regular season champion Dallas College Richland, which wrapped up the league title with Saturday's 68-67 win over Mountain View.
The Bears outscored the Suns 49-33 in the second half to run away from a tie at the intermission.
Four Bears starters scored in double figures, paced by Jeremy Ronan's 24 points and 12 rebounds. He was 10 of 21 from the field. Zach Gomez finished with 15 points and five assists, and hit 5 of 8 three-pointers. Khaleel Thomas had 13 points and seven boards, and Dylan Gonzalez scored 11 points, dished out a season-high 10 assists, grabbed six rebounds and had four steals. Jovan Danner shot 5 of 8 for 11 points, and blocked one shot off the bench.
Josh Beall scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, Armani Reese had 12 points, 13 boards and six blocks, and Charlie Gutierrez 12 points, eight rebounds and a block for the Suns. Gutierrez hit six of nine field goals, while Reese was 50 percent from the floor. Coreon Hardy added 10 points off the bench.
The Bears outrebounded the Suns 46-36.
Brookhaven connected on 8 of 16 free throws. Cedar Valley sank 11 of 15. The Bears shot 48.6 percent from the field, while the Suns hit 39.1 percent of their field goals. Brookhaven was 10 of 21 from downtown, and Cedar Valley went 5-for-22.
The last time Brookhaven finished above .500 in the league was 2015-16 when the Bears went 6-4 in the Metro Athletic Conference.
Brookhaven will close the regular season at home against Dallas College North Lake 6 p.m. Wednesday and at Mountain View 1 p.m. Saturday.