The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team remains undefeated as the Pirates downed the Graceland University JV on Monday night, 85-65.
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The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team remains undefeated as the Pirates downed the Graceland University JV on Monday night, 85-65.
The NCMC women lost a pair of games over the weekend at Hutchinson Community College Classic.
NCMC Men
The NCMC squad had been idle for the past week and it showed in the first half, according to Coach Steve Richman, who said the Pirates “didn’t play extremely well” during the first 20 minutes of the contest.
“Teams like Graceland tend to make a ballclub like ours look sloppy at times,” Richman said.
The Pirates were able to take a six-point lead at the half, 39-33.
But the first seven minutes of the second half were a whole other story as the Pirates took control from the get-go.
“The first seven minutes of that second half is probably the best basketball we have played all year,” Richman said. “Our passing was great and our fast-break worked real well for us. We just blew up on them.”
NCMC was able to stretch the lead to as many 29 points with about 13 minutes to play. That result allowed the Pirates to get everyone some playing time.
“And when we started to do that, the chemistry changed a little bit and we let them come back,” Richman said.
Graceland was able to pull to within 11 points, but the Pirates would allow the Yellowjackets to get no closer.
Damon Collins led the NCMC attack with 29 points and also hauled down nine rebounds. John Hawkins added 13 points. T.J. Wesley and Andy Chelcher both scored 11 points and Wesley collected 10 assists. Cortez Jeffries put in 10 points and had 16 rebounds.
NCMC is now 4-0 on the year and will be at home on Friday night, hosting the first NCMC Men’s Classic. The Pirates will take on Hamilton Community College of Lincoln, NE, in a 7:30 contest at the Ketcham Community Center. The game will be preceded by a contest featuring Independence Community College and Southwestern Iowa Community College.
Saturday’s schedule finds Southwestern Iowa taking on Hamilton at 5:30 p.m. while NCMC battles Independence at 7:30 p.m.
NCMC Women
The Lady Pirates travelled to Hutchinson Community College on Friday and Saturday for the Hutchinson Community College Classic. NCMC lost its opening game on Friday to Pratt Community College, 85-51. In the second game NCMC fell to Hutchinson Community College on Saturday, 59-49.
The Lady Pirates ran into a very athletic Pratt Community College. NCMC struggled against Pratt’s full-court press early in the game.
?We were very sluggish early in the game,? Head Coach James Arnold said. ?We came into the game with a plan to get the ball inside and in the first quarter we got away from that. We tried to run with them and that really hurt us. This game was a very good lesson for us.?
NCMC trailed Pratt heading into halftime, 42-18. NCMC settled down in the second half and played better, but the loss of leading scorer Leigh Mead to an ankle sprain and the big first half deficit was too much.
Cassi Verhelle led the way for NCMC with 14 points and nine rebounds.
?We settled down in the second half and got back to our game plan,? Arnold said.
NCMC played well against Hutchinson, but was unable to pull out the win.
?We played so much better in the second game,? Arnold said. ?It was just an all-around good effort by our girls.?
The Lady Pirates trailed at halftime, 35-22, then outscored Hutchinson in the second half, 27-26.
Dana Lucas led North Central with 18 points. Mead battled through a sore ankle to add 15 points. The Lady Pirates fall to 1-4 overall and return home tonight.
?Despite the loss, the Hutchinson game was a great experience for our team,? Arnold said. ?I really believe that playing that caliber of team will be a springboard for us heading into this part of our schedule.?
The Lady Pirates will take on St. Mary’s JV in a 7 o’clock game tonight at the Ketcham Community Center.