• Sophomores Rylan Smith and Kaden Tate join Keng in double figures with 16 and 11 points respectively
• Bears take a 39-23 lead into halftime
• The victory extends DMACC's winning streak to four games

Freshman Kiki Deng of Des Moines scored a game-high 21 points to lead the DMACC men's basketball team to a 97-67 win over Southwestern Community College (SWCC) December 6 at Creston.

Sophomores Rylan Smith of Lincoln, Neb., and Kaden Tate of Pearland, Texas, added 16 and 11 points respectively as the Bears improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) with their fourth straight win.

DMACC, ranked ninth in the most recent Division II poll from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), controlled the tempo almost from the outset and never trailed after a layup by freshman Hunter Gawron of Skokie, Ill., gave the Bears a 9-7 lead with 16 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the first half. They used a 15-3 run to open up a 22-10 advantage with just more than nine minutes remaining the half and took a 39-23 lead into intermission. The final margin was DMACC's largest of the game.

The Bears shot 41 percent, hitting 31 of 76 field goal attempts. They were 9-of-33 from three-point range and 26-of-43 from the free throw line.

SWCC, led by 16 points from Michael Smith, shot 35 percent, connecting on 23 of 66 field goal attempts. The Spartans were 7-of-15 from three-point range and 14-of-26 from the free throw line.

DMACC had a 42-30 advantage on the boards with Deng's eight rebounds leading the way. Tate dished out a team-high four assists and Tate, freshman Brent Taylor of Flossmoor, Ill., freshman Landen Norris of Knoxville, freshman Shelton Colwell, Jr., of Newark, N.J., and sophomore Jayden Jones of Katy, Texas, had two steals apiece.

The DMACC men's basketball team is home to Western Iowa Technical Community College (WITCC) Dec. 10. Game time is 7:30 p.m. inside the DMACC gymnasium. WITCC is 3-6 overall and 0-3 in the ICCAC.