The North Central Missouri College Pirates are officially rolling. Wednesday night the Pirates captured their third consecutive win with an 89-80 victory over the fifth-ranked NJCAA Division II team in the nation, Penn Valley. The Lady Pirates were also in action, but could not avoid the loss as they fell 78-54.
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Pirates
The Pirates’ win over rival Penn Valley gave them their first three-game winning streak of the season.
“We are finally starting to get things figured out,” Head Coach Steve Richman said. “It was a huge win for our kids. They have been working really hard in practice and in these last couple of games and a win like this is just kind of an exclamation point on what hard work and effort can do for a team.”
Penn Valley, who beat the Pirates by 14 in Trenton on Jan. 16, quickly realized they were in for a fight as the Pirates battled throughout the first half. NCMC had their share of time leading the game and at halftime, the Pirates held a 36-34 advantage.
North Central continued to play strong basketball in the second half and slowly built their lead to a 15-point margin. The Pirates turned from playing Penn Valley to playing the clock in the final minutes. Penn Valley hit a pair of three-pointers, but the Pirates held on for the win.
The victory was a big one for the Pirates, not only in the fact that it gave them a three-game winning streak, but also because it came over one of their biggest rivals in Penn Valley, who happened to be a top five team.
“Penn Valley is a big rival for us and it’s a team we recruit against,” Richman said. “We were coming off a 14-point loss to them a couple weeks ago and for us to turn around and beat them shows a lot for the progress our team has made over the past few weeks. We are starting to find what we need to win games like this.”
The Pirates were led by Byron Bundy, who scored a team-high 22 points. Martin Roper continued to give the Pirates an excellent showing with his third-straight double-double. Roper had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Devin Eighmey and Brandon Thomas also hit double figures for the Pirates, scoring 18 and 16 points respectively.
Robert Neeley, like Roper, hit double figures on rebounds, pulling down 11, something coach Richman felt was very important to the team’s success.
“We got a big performance on the boards,” Richman said. “Neeley did a great job for us and getting those big rebound totals is one of the reasons we were able to win the game.”
With the win, the NCMC men moved to 9-12 on the season.
Lady Pirates
The Lady Pirates couldn’t duplicate the men’s success as they fell. North Central gave Penn Valley a strong first half and only trailed the Lady Scouts by 10 at the break.
Entering the second half and trailing just 35-25, the Lady Pirates began to make a run at Penn Valley. NCMC trimmed the lead to seven once, but that was as close as they would get. Penn Valley turned on the offense and pulled away throughout the remainder of the game, defeating the Lady Pirates by 24 points.
“We were plagued by turnovers and they outrebounded us,” Head Coach Jenni Croy said.
The Lady Pirates were led by Cassie Hunt, who recorded a team-high 23 points. Mandy Monkman hit double figures as well, scoring 12.
The Lady Pirates fell to 7-15 on the season with the loss.
Both North Central squads will return to the court on Saturday when they will host Forest Park Community College at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton. Tip time for the women’s game is set for 2 p.m. with men’s action to follow at around 4 p.m.