The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team played with St. Louis for a half on Saturday. Then the Pirates flexed their muscles.
North Central outscored St. Louis 42-28 in the second half of the Region 16 opener at the Ketcham Community Center, cruising to a 71-56 victory over the Archers.
While the first half was back and forth, nip and tuck, the second was anything but. The Pirates led 29-28 at the break before taking off on a run that squashed St. Louis’ hopes and put the region on notice.
“I’m really proud of how our guys continued to fight and stuck with the game plan for 40 minutes,” Pirates’ Head Coach Jeremy Esry said. “We started off the game hot, but really cooled down midway through the first half. In the second, I thought our guys did a great job of playing hard on every possession and taking away some of the strengths of St. Louis.”
The Pirates had four players in double figures in the win with Ryan Ward’s 17 leading the way. Jalen Gant followed with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Jordan Reece had 11 points and three assists. Jake Salisbury had 11 points as well while Cody Glenn scored six points and dished out three assists.
“Ryan and Cody did a great job of hitting shots and Jalen and Jordan did a great job of attacking the defense and making the right play,” Esry said. “Hopefully our guys are learning what it is going to take to compete every night at the junior college level.”
With the win, North Central improved to 10-5 overall and established a 1-0 start to Region 16 play.
North Central returns to action on Tuesday, traveling to Ellsworth Community College in Iowa for action. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.