By: Ian Sacks

After winning the first ACCAC championship in program history, the Scottsdale Community College men's basketball team gets set for the NJCAA national championship tournament in Danville, Ill.

The Fighting Artichokes were the top seed in the ACCAC tournament and defeated Glendale in the title 90-84 March 4. After trailing by two at halftime, they outscored the Gauchos by eight in the second half.

"You only get to be first one time," said head coach Mark Bunker, referring to winning the program's first crown. "It's a really cool kind of honor for those guys. They're the team that kind of got over the hump… It's been a long time coming."

Tournament MVP Unisa Turay netted 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 4-for-7 from 3-point land. The freshman also dished out seven assists and pulled down six rebounds. Carson Kelly recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists. Cameron Faas and Dante Gonzales rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 and 13, respectively.

In the semifinals, SCC won 104-71 in dominating fashion over Pima, the team that knocked Artichokes out of the playoffs the last two seasons. Scottsdale scored the first 10 points of the contest and led by as many as 38. The top seed shot 10-for-19 from 3-point land (52.6%) and 53.8% from the field.

Six Artichokes recorded double figures. Turay led the way with 18 points, nine assists and five steals. Faas tallied 15 points and eight rebounds. Kelly and Isaiah Floyd each scored 13 points. Gonzales and Elijah Cole netted 10 points apiece.

"We've come a long way in a short period of time with these freshmen and how much experience they've already gained," Bunker said. "I'm excited to see what they can kind of do on the national stage."

Scottsdale enters a 16-team field at the NJCAA championship. The Artichokes face off against Milwaukee Area Technical College Wednesday at 1 p.m. (CT) or 11 a.m. (AZ time) in their first game at the Mary Miller Center.

"Until you actually see somebody in person, until you get to line up next to them, you don't really know how it's going to be," Bunker said. "This is definitely the type of tournament where every single team is good. There's no team that just got in accidentally. These are all region championship winning teams."

All NJCAA championship brackets and matches can be viewed ($) online at https://www.njcaa.org.