Thunderbird (MBB) Advances to Round of 16 at Nationals

The T-Birds defeated Barton CC 103-90 in the first round of the 2026 NJCAA DI Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday, March 21. 

The No. 18 seed Thunderbirds move on to the Round of 16 where they will face the No. 2 seed College of Southern Idaho Monday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m. CDT on ESPN+ in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The win Saturday versus Barton was the 100th career victory for NMJC men's basketball head coach Luke Mackay. 

"The guys did a great job of staying together," NMJC men's basketball head coach Luke Mackay said. "Barton is super talented and very well coached so we knew it would be a game of runs. Being essentially a road game with all the Barton blue there it got loud and our guys just stayed the course and stayed together. That was the key." 

The large crowds in Hutch can make for a fun environment out on the national stage.

"Having so many Barton fans there we actually enjoyed it," Coach Mackay said. "Sometimes tournament games can have a very neutral crowd. In this game, we got to enjoy a loud and enthusiastic crowd." 

The T-Birds were dominant early trailing for just 48 seconds in the first half against the Cougars. NMJC was behind Barton 29-27 with 4:29 to go in the half. Garrison Phelps took the lead back on the next possession 30-29 with his and-1 pullup jumper. 

A few minutes later RJ Nance hit a 3-pointer to give the Thunderbirds their largest lead of the half 37-30. Barton closed the gap with a layup as time expired to put the halftime score at 40-36 T-Birds.    

The second half started fast for NMJC as they scored five points in the first 21 seconds of play to grab a 45-36 advantage over the Cougars. A Francois Nkoy-Eale layup at the 14:34 mark pushed the T-Bird lead to 16 points, 61-45. Barton managed to go on a 17-6 run to make the score 67-62 with 10:50 to go in the game. 

Back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Ladji Coulibaly cooled the run and brought NMJC back in control of the game 71-62 with 9:56 left. Barton was unable to keep pace with NMJC and the five-point deficit at the 10:50 mark proved to be the closest they came the rest of the game. 

NMJC led by as many as 21 points in the second half thanks to some sharp shooting from beyond the arc down the stretch. The T-Bird were 7-for-15 (46.7%) from 3-point territory in the second half.

The T-Birds never trailed in the second half and were behind for less than a minute the entire game.

RJ Nance was lethal from 3-point territory going 4-for-7 and 7-for-10 from the field. The sophomore guard finished the afternoon with 23 points and five rebounds. Forward Delang Muon was all over the court Saturday scoring 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and swatting three blocks. 

Center Ladji Coulibaly made his presence known in the paint with 15 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. The freshman center entered the day shooting 58% from the charity stripe but Saturday was a different story where he went 5-for-6 (83.3%) from the line. 

Grigorije Avramovic tied his career high in assists with eight while adding seven points. Michael Mackey was the only bench player in double figures with 10 points. Garrison Phelps notched eight points and five boards. Francois Nkoy-Eale tied his season high in points with eight and added three blocks. Xavier Perry was solid in relief, scoring seven points and dishing out four assists. 

"Our bench has always been a strength for us," Coach Mackay said. "Our ability to substitute and get a boost rather than simply trying to hold the line has been something we have always leaned into and having a group of guys who are willing to play that role makes a huge difference." 

The T-Birds shot 34-of-72 (47.2%) from the field, 11-of-34 (32.4%) from the 3-point line, and 24-of-34 (70.6%) from the free throw line. NMJC held the Cougars to 43.9% from the field.

Moving over to the College of Southern Idaho matchup.

No. 2 CSI comes into the Round of 16 with a 31-2 record. The team's only losses were to Odessa and Snow. CSI received a first-round bye after winning the West District Championship in OT 102-96 against Cochise.   

The T-Birds and Golden Eagles have two common opponents in Clarendon and Odessa. They lost to Odessa at home 73-66 and defeated Clarendon 80-71. NMJC swept both teams in 2026, accumulating a 4-0 record.

"CSI is obviously a very good program and full of talent and an excellent coaching staff," Mackay said. "We just have to get ourselves ready physically and mentally to compete for a full 40 minutes and just continue to do what we work on every day." 

The No. 18 seed Thunderbirds will face the No. 2 seed College of Southern Idaho Monday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m. CDT on ESPN+ in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. 

The game will be televised on ESPN+ and a $11.99 subscription will be required to catch the games live.  Live stats can be found here. 

To keep up to date with tournament scores and action visit the tournament results page. The full bracket can be found here.