The Elgin Community College’s Men’s basketball team ended their regular season with a record of 14-16. The Spartans beat McHenry County College and Oakton Community College to win two of their last three games.

Their game against OCC was the team’s last home game which occurred on Feb. 17, after being previously postponed.

A lot of excitement preceded this game as family and friends filled the stands to show their support and celebrate the team’s Sophomore night.

“The team was really pumped,” said Michael Kozenczak, an Assistant Coach. “We have kids that they weren’t technically here for two years but their contribution has been really good and a bunch of them stepped up that night and were able to knock down shots that we needed down the
stretch.”

The Spartans outscored OCC 69-65.

Jonathan Flynn, co-captain of the Spartans shared what allowed them to be victorious that night.

“We came together as a team. When we needed certain players to step up, they stepped up,” Flynn said. “Everyone did their role well.”

The regular season came to an end for the Spartans, but their work wasn’t quite done. They made it to the NJCAA Region IV Quarterfinals with home court advantage as they finished at fourth seed.

Being able to make it to playoffs doesn’t come easy, as it requires certain things from teams. Assistant Coach of the Spartans, Mario Garrett knows what it took for his team to make it to quarterfinals.

“Hard work and effort. [Head] Coach Reed gives everybody good direction on what to do on offense and defensive ends. As the year went on the team just got better and better, and it’s working out so far,” Garrett said.

The Spartans faced Milwaukee Area Technical College (5th seed) on Feb. 21. MATC led 38-22 at half-time. The Spartans did not think much of the deficit and played hard and capitalized on every possession and on MATC’s mistakes and managed to make it 68-69. The crowd sat at the edge of their seats as the Spartans trailed by one point with 25 seconds left in the game and had possession of the ball. They turned over the ball and fouled MATC attempting to regain possession of the ball. The Spartans were unable to do so and ended their post-season with a 73-68 loss to MATC.