By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Danville, IL---Joe Retic II scored the team's final five points, including the game-tying and go-ahead field goals, as the Express men's basketball team stormed back from a 14-point deficit to defeat No. 11 Iowa Lakes Community College in the NJCAA D-II National Tournament.

Colton Neff hit a lay-in to put Iowa Lakes up 65-51 with 8:13 left in the game. It was the largest of the game for Iowa Lakes, who had led the Express for the game's first 39 minutes.

Andy Bachman then hit a 3-pointer for the Express, but Iowa Lakes' Deondre Parks hit a jumper to push the lead back to 13 with 7:26 left.

James Kelly then inserted his presence into the game with eight straight points. He hit a driving jumper in the paint to the right of the hoop, made a tip-dunk, hit a straightaway jumper in the paint and converted another dunk on an alley-oop pass from Markese Allen that cut the deficit to 67-62 with 4:42 left.

Following that, Parks hit four free throws and Tony Boykins made a second chance lay-up for the Express to put the score at 71-64 with 2:41 left.

Allen then hit a jumper in the lane, followed by another 3-pointer from Bachman, this one from the right corner on an assist from Allen, to pull the Express within two, 71-69, with 1:32 left.

After a missed lay-up from Iowa Lakes, Retic made a driving floater to tie it at 71-all with just over a minute left. After a turnover by Kelly Madison of Iowa Lakes, Retic struck again, this time with a midrange jumper from the left corner to give the Express the lead. 

After Madison made 1-for-2 at the foul line, Retic returned the favor with 1-for-2 at the line as the Express led 74-72 with 17 seconds left. 

Iowa Lakes then missed three shots over the final 17 seconds as the Express secured their first NJCAA National Tournament win since 2000. 

Retic finished with a team-high 17 points, along with three assists, two rebounds and two steals, while Kelly added 16 points, six rebounds and a key block late.

Bachman was the third Express player in double figures with 12. He added six rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Chris Wilson (7 pts, 6 reb) and Allen (7 pts, team-high 6 ast, 5 reb) helped the Express bench outscore the Iowa Lakes bench 28-11.

Parks led Iowa Lakes with 22 points, while Josh Schaben had 17 points and eight rebounds. Ben Shellim added 11 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Kevin Larson had a team-high five assists.

The Express only turned the ball over eight times, compared to 16 for Iowa Lakes.

Notes

The Express ended the game on a 20-5 run. During that stretch, they shot 9-for-16 from the field.

Iowa Lakes falls into the loser's bracket with a 26-7 record, while the Express improve to 25-8 overall. It's their first 25 or more win season since 2005-06.

With the win, the Express now advance to the quarterfinals to take on Central Community College - Columbus (NE) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Central upset No. 1 seed and defending national champion Mott Community College in the round of 16 today.

The Express are now 3-0 all-time against Iowa Lakes in the national tournament. Their first national title came with a title game win over Iowa Lakes in 1991-92 and a player from that Iowa Lakes team, Troy Larson, is now the head coach at Iowa Lakes.

Second-year head coach Dave Clarke is now 4-1 in postseason play.