Oct. 3, 2007

The NJC basketball team opened up their official season with practice on Monday afternoon in the Bank of Colorado Event Center. The Plainsmen have high expectations for the upcoming season, coming off one of the best records in school history. NJC finished the year with a record of 34-2, ranked 4th in the Nation and a 7th place finish at the NJCAA National Tournament.

Head Coach Eddie Trenkle, in his second season, feels this team could be just as successful, if not better than last year's squad. "We have some kids back with a lot of experience and ability. If our new kids grow and learn what it takes to be successful at this level, we should be every bit as good as we were last year."

Two starters returning from last year's National Tournament team are Mike Dominguez and Troy Smith. Both saw a substantial amount of time last year and were major contributors to the success of the team. Dominguez averaged nearly 10 points per game shooting a scorching 47% from three point land, while Troy averaged 10 points per contest with a 37% field goal percentage.

Other returning players from last year's team are 5'10" red shirt sophomore guard DeRay Wilson, who is a transfer from State Fair College, 6'7" forward, AJ Wilson (no relation to DeRay), who is a transfer from College of Southern Idaho, 6'1" guard, Tom Chott, 6'4" guard, Kylor Dossett, 6'2" guard Curtis Ashe, and 6'7" forward, Eric Miller, who gained a lot of experience, but is coming off an injury.

Northeastern is blessed to have some new transfers that have some experience at the college level including 6'2" point guard Lawrence Tyson, a transfer from Cal State Northridge and 6'8" center Jeron Lewis from Wabash CC.

Incoming freshman for the Plainsmen include, 6'7" center DeMario Partee from Racine, Wisconsin, 6'4" forward Adam Rabih from Denver, Colorado, 6'2" guard Alex Garcia Mendoza from El Fuerte, Mexico, 6'8" center Justin Schneider from Ft. Collins, Colorado, and 6'1" guard Ryan Railey from Woodlin Park, Colorado.

The season is underway and the goals are set for another successful campaign for NJC. Coach Trenkle is geared up and believes it should be a great year. "Our post play is unproven up to this point, but our guards will be solid early. I believe our inside game could be as good as or better than we had last season. We will have to wait and see how things pan out."

The Plainsmen home first game will be the alumni game scheduled for October 27th at 7:30pm in Jackson Edwards Arena.