A NEW SWAGGER

Pirates Hungry For More After First National Tourney Run

The north wall in head coach Jeremy Esry’s office is littered with a dozen or so framed 8×10 pictures. Each one depicts a moment from the end of last season.
There is a dunk from the program’s first Region XVI championship and a crowd shot showing the packed stands at the Ketcham Community Center during the district championship game that propelled the Pirates into the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.
Almost a year later, the Pirates are back to basketball with a banner proudly hanging in the upper echelons of the Ketcham Community Center. The first-ever trip to the national tournament has fueled a desire within the program to return to Danville, IL again this season.
“I think our sophomores are doing a good job of, not necessarily being cocky, but being confident in how we do things around here,” Esry said. “They are relaying that to our freshmen. They know the expectations, they know we kind of have a target on our back this year. We are attacking every practice like we are playing for a region title or a national tournament bid. They are doing a really good job, right now, of being focused and I think that is the key for us.”
The sophomores Esry refers to are Quinan Rieves, Marty Jackson, Michael Horton and Rayonte Childs. Demarius Houston was with the team last year as well but was redshirted. He returns this season as a redshirt freshman to round out the Pirates five returnees from a year ago.
Of those coming back, the Pirates will look to lean on Jackson and Rieves this year. Both played big roles in North Central’s region championship season. Jackson averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last year while Rieves posted averages of 9.3 points and 5.8 boards. Jackson was a first-team all-region selection and Rieves was named to the second team.
“We don’t have much size, but it is nice that the size we do have coming back is experienced,” Esry said of his two returning forwards. “Both Marty and Quinan had double-doubles for us in the national tournament last year in different games. The have done a great job of controlling rebounds and they can stretch the floor a little bit. They are just match-up problems for other teams.”
In addition to the five returnees, North Central welcomes 12 newcomers – nine freshmen, one transfer redshirt freshman and two transfer sophomores.
On the roster this year North Central has a total of seven players from the St. Louis metro area.
Damien Loyd, a point guard, comes in from Kirkwood High School and figures to be the Pirates’ starting point guard. He is a quick, good defensive player who also showed an ability to score at the high school level, averaging over 20 points per game for the Pioneers. Atavian Butler from McCluer North High School and Jeramy Shaw of Valley Park High School also come in from the St. Louis area and should present the Pirates with some athletic options at the two or three spots.
“I really like our freshman class,” Esry said. “We really hit St. Louis hard and I think we got some really good pieces out of there. Damien is a point guard, really quick and I think the Pirate fans are really going to love watching him play. Jeramy is a 6-6 guard who can do a little bit of everything and he will be really fun to watch in transition. Then Atavian is the same way. He is really similar to (former Pirate) Jordan Reece. I hate putting that out there because Jordan is one of the best athletes we have ever had, but they are similar. Atavian might be a little stronger while Jordan was probably a little more bouncy, but they both can do really good things.”
Transferring in is Jonathan Richmond from Kansas City, Kansas, Community College. Richmond originally went to KCK out of Hickman High School in Columbia. Pirate fans might remember his older brother – Andrew Berry. All Berry did at NCMC was set the program record for career rebounds.
At 6-7 and 265 pounds, Richmond has the build to continue his family’s legacy of pulling down boards for the Pirates.
“Andrew was the best rebounder we ever had here,” Esry said. “Jon probably doesn’t bring that as much, but he maybe has a little better offensive touch than Andrew did around the rim. That rebounding mentality, Jon is still trying to find that, but it is nice to get former players’ brothers on the team and kind of carry on that tradition.”
Also transferring in is TJ Babikir, a North Kansas City product who transfers in from NCAA Division II school Lincoln University in Jefferson City. Babikir will likely start for the Pirates right off the bat.
With the team built, Esry and the Pirates embark on the mission to defend the region title against St. Louis and Metropolitan (Kansas City) community colleges.
North Central has always been at a bit of a disadvantage having to recruit against the hometown community colleges in the two major metro areas in the state. But North Central’s region title a year ago has helped the Pirates a bit, as seen by the influx of St. Louis area talent on this year’s roster. Right now, the region title could be any one of the three schools’ to win.
“I don’t know much about St. Louis yet, but we have seen Metropolitan-Penn Valley play twice,” Esry said. “They look really good. They have a couple of kids we went after and didn’t get and then they have a couple of kids who transferred back from Division I to a Division II school. So I think they will be really tallented. It’s always going to be a battle because everybody knows each other. It will be interesting, though, and I think it should be four really good games for us.”
North Central opened the season with a pair of victories at the McDonald’s Classic at State Fair Community College in Sedalia last weekend and followed it up with a third-straight win at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, IA on Tuesday.
North Central opens the home portion of its schedule tonight (Friday), playing host to the Graceland University junior varsity at 8 o’clock in the Ketcham Community Center. North Central is home on Saturday as well, playing host to Parkland College. That game tips off at 3 p.m.

2019 NCMC Men’s
Basketball Schedule
11/1 vs. MO Valley JV (Sedalia) W 107-65
11/2 @ State Fair CC W 89-84
11/5 @ Ellsworth CC W 84-75
11/8 vs. Graceland JV 8:00 pm
11/9 vs. Parkland College 3:00 pm
11/12 vs. Kansas Christian 7:00 pm
11/15 vs. Labette (KCKCC) 4:00 pm
11/16 @ Kansas City, KS CC 6:00 pm
11/19 vs. Peru State JV 7:00 pm
11/23 vs. Southeast CC 4:00 pm
11/26 vs. John Wood CC 7:00 pm
11/30 @ Southwestern CC 3:00 pm
12/3 @ Johnson County CC 7:30 pm
12/5 vs. Central Methodist JV 7:00 pm
1/8 vs. Ellsworth CC 7:30 pm
1/11 @ St. Louis CC* 3:00 pm
1/13 vs. Kansas City, KS CC 7:30 pm
1/18 vs. Johnson County CC 4:00 pm
1/22 vs. Metropolitan CC* 7:00 pm
1/24 vs. Graceland JV 7:00 pm
1/28 @ Southeast CC 7:00 pm
2/1 vs. St. Louis CC* 3:00 pm
2/4 vs. Culver Stockton JV 7:00 pm
2/6 vs. MO Valley JV 7:00 pm
2/8 @ Metropolitan CC* 4:00 pm
2/12 @ Indian Hills CC 7:00 pm
2/18 @ Iowa Western CC 7:00 pm
2/20 vs. Central Methodist JV 7:00 pm
(* Region 16 Game)
(Home Games In Bold)