Gant, Ward Carry Pirates To 67-61 Win

When Jalen Gant hits a certain mode, there is not much opposing teams can do with the North Central Missouri College Pirates’ all-region forward.
That was exactly the case on Tuesday night as Gant dominated in a 67-61 North Central victory over Johnson County on the road in Overland Park.
Gant scored 28 points, pulled down 12 rebounds, handed out four assists, blocked three shots and swiped a pair of steals. In other words, he did everything and on this night the Pirates needed everything.
Playing on their home court, Johnson County entered the game ranked 17th in the nation at the NJCAA Division 2 level. But between Gant and Ryan Ward, who was six of nine from three-point land en route to a 20-point night of his own, North Central prevailed, moving to 4-2 overall on the season in the process.
“Our guys did a great job of buying in and doing whatever it took to win tonight,” Pirates’ head coach Jeremy Esry said. “We are still struggling at times finding that offensive consistency, but our defense was pretty solid for 40 minutes. Jalen and Ryan did a great job stepping up and hitting big-time shots when we needed them, but I would still like to see us with more offensive production from our bench, which I know can happen.”
The Pirates netted five points from its bench in the victory and outside of Gant and Ward, the Pirates got just 14 points from its other three starters.
Despite the lopsided scoring, North Central ran out to a 49-31 lead in the first half before weathering a rally by Johnson County in the second half to hold on for the win.
The Pirates have now defeated two ranked teams in a five-day span after defeating Highland – ranked 16th – last Friday, 79-71.
WOMEN WIN
North Central’s women’s squad also scored a victory on the road on Tuesday night, traveling to Leavenworth, KS, where the Lady Pirates picked up an 86-54 win over the St. Mary University junior varsity.
North Central used a 23-13 run in the first quarter to take an advantage, but only held a nine-point edge at halftime. In the third quarter, however, North Central squashed any threat, going on a 24-7 run to put the game out of reach.
“We got off to a slow start in the first half,” North Central women’s head coach Jenni Croy said. “In the second half, we shot the ball much better and shared it extremely well. We finished the game with 22 assists.”
Kendey Eaton led the way for North Central, scoring 20 points. Samm Jett added 11 points and Ashtin Williams and Sarah Lamp each scored 10. Whitley Richman led the Pirates on the glass, pulling down a team-high 13 rebounds.
With the win, North Central improved to 4-2 on the season and has now won three straight games.
UP NEXT
NCMC Men: The Pirates will be at home on Friday night, playing host to the Park University junior varsity. It may be a JV squad, but Park’s second team already has a victory over Kansas City, KS this season – a team that defeated the Pirates last weekend, 74-67. Tipoff in the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton on Friday is set for 6 p.m.
NCMC Women: The Lady Pirates hit the road this weekend, traveling to Quincy, IL for the John Wood Classic. North Central will tangle with Bryant & Stratton on Saturday at 1 p.m. and follow that up with a game agains the host school, John Wood, on Sunday, also at 1 p.m.