In front of a big crowd, the North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team put its best foot forward on Thursday night, defeating visiting St. Louis Community College in a make-up Region 16 contest.
The Pirates appeared energized from the onset, running the floor well en route to a commanding 44-27 halftime lead. The Pirates were able to keep the visitors at arm’s length in the second half, protecting the lead and winning the game by 18 points in the end.
“Our guys did a great job of focusing on the defensive end and forcing St. Louis into some tough shots,” Pirates’ Head Coach Jeremy Esry said. “They handed it to us pretty good at their place, so for us to bounce back like this tonight was nice. I thought we shared the ball really well and played some great team Pirate basketball.”
Jalen Gant and Demetrius Houston each scored 18 points to lead the Pirates in the win. Major Finley followed with 14 points and Joshua Goss was in double figures as well, finishing with 11.
Esry pointed to the atmosphere at the game as a big reason for the Pirates turning the tables on St. Louis, which defeated North Central 74-58 in early February.
“It was a great night for our program and a special thanks goes out to our community for coming our and supporting us,” Esry said. “The Trenton High School band was great and the crowd gave us a lot of energy the entire game, which I thought made a difference. I also want to thank Craig Sager, Ryan Suttenfield and Nate Gamet for helping organize such a great atmosphere and our student section for being loud and rowdy all night long.”
With the win, the Pirates moved to 18-8 overall on the season and 4-2 in Region 16 play. At 4-2, NCMC sits second in the Region 16 standings, behind Penn Valley, 4-1 and St. Louis 3-2. St. Louis and Penn Valley will face off in Kansas City on Saturday in the final Region 16 games of the season. A St. Louis win would create a three-way tie atop the region standings. Wentworth is 0-6 in region play and will be the four seed, the only seed locked in yet.
Before next week’s region tournament, however, the Pirates have a date with North Arkansas, on the road in Harrison, AR on Saturday. The game will close out regular season play for North Central. Action tips off at noon with a women’s match-up between the two schools and the men’s contest will follow at 2 o’clock.