The North Central Missouri College Pirates returned to action Tuesday night after a long Christmas break. The Pirates hosted Graceland University junior varsity at the Ketcham Com-munity Center in Trenton and took an 83-74 win.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
The Pirates looked a little sluggish in the first half and found themselves trailing Graceland 29-27 at halftime.
In the second half, the Pirates caught their stride and battled back. Byron Bundy took the game over and hit five consecutive three-pointers to give the Pirates a firm grasp on the game.
North Central pulled away throughout the second half, taking a commanding lead. Graceland was able to get 10 points in the final minute to close the gap slightly, but the Pirates still came away with the win.
“I thought it looked like a typical come-back game after a long break,” Head Coach Steve Richman said. “It’s going to take some adjustment time to get back into the swing of things.”
Bundy led the way for the Pirates, scoring a game-high 27 points. Bundy also passed out five assists over the course of the game. Martin Roper had a strong game as well, scoring 17 points and pulling down nine rebounds. He also recorded two assists and two steals. Jacob Bottcher hit double figures as well, scoring 11 points. Brandon Thomas had a team-high seven assists to aid the Pirates’ efforts.
NCMC moved to 6-8 on the season with the win.
Over the weekend, both the Pirates and Lady Pirates will be in St. Louis for matchups with Forest Park on Friday and Florissant Valley on Saturday. Both NCMC squads will return home next Wednesday when they host Penn Valley Community College at the Ketcham Community Center.