Teams

With the win the Golden Eagles completed their season with a single-season record of 33 wins and only 3 losses.  Along the way Rock Valley defeated NJCAA D1 power programs Vincennes (#6 at the time) and Indian Hills (#7 at the time), both on the road.  Both Vincennes and Indian Hills are playing in the NJCAA D1 National Tournament in Hutchinson, KS this season. RVC also beat defending NJCAA D2 National Runner-up John Wood Community College (#11 at the time) while starting the season off with a 19-0 record, the best start in school history.  In each of the past three seasons the Golden Eagles have re-broke the school record for wins in a single-season (30-5 in 2013-14; 31-4 in 2014-15, and 33-3 in 2015-16).  Rock Valley has been ranked #1 in the NJCAA DIII national poll since October 27th, 2014, spanning over 500 days and 24 national polls.

On Saturday night the Golden Eagles took down a Rochester team who entered the contest with a 30-2 record which included a victory over NJCAA D1 national tournament team North Dakota State College of Science. Sophomore LT Davis (Rockford, IL) led the Golden Eagles in scoring with a game-high 25 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  Davis would earn MVP of the National Tournament for a second time. In 2013-14, Davis also led the Golden Eagles to a national championship and earned the award. Davis took a redshirt year in 2014-15.

Rock Valley sophomore center Elijah Williams (Chicago, IL) scored 21 points (7-10 FG) and pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds.  Freshman wing Kooper Glick (Columbus, IN) had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Sophomore point guard Mo Jackson (Belvidere, IL), who earned All-National Tournament team, chipped in with 8 points.

“Rochester had a great game plan mixing up defenses and not allowing us to play in the half-court in the first half,” head coach Craig Doty said. “We were able to control the tempo in the second half with our offense operating in front of our bench and our guys executed extremely well.  We were able to put LT and Elijah in strength positions. They are incredibly talented and they showed why they are two of the best players in the country at all levels of the NJCAA.”

The Golden Eagles connected on a sizzling 28-50 (.560) of their shots in the game which included a scortching 8-15 (.533) from behind the arc.

Winning its program’s second NJCAA championship in the 50 year history of the program, Rock Valley gained redemption after falling 67-64 to Richland (Dallas, TX) in last year’s National Championship game. The Golden Eagles won their first national championship during the 2013-14 season behind the efforts of LT Davis and NJCAA DIII National Player of the Year Jared Mayes.