No. 16 Pirates Find A Way To Keep Rolling

Every team has an off night. The good teams find a way to win on off nights.
One day after the NJCAA Division II national rankings were released with North Central sitting proudly at 16th, the Pirates found themselves in a fight against visiting John Wood. It was far from the best showing for the Pirates, but in the end, North Central found a way to pick up its sixth-straight victory, defeating John Wood 85-83. The 85-point total is the lowest of the six-game winning streak for North Central and it marked the first time in the last six contests that the Pirates have been held under 100 points.
“I’m not sure if we were already planning our holiday break activities or if we were content with getting ranked, but I really didn’t like our mindset or approach at the beginning of the game,” Pirates’ coach Jeremy Esry said. “John Wood did a lot of good things to make us struggle, but our energy was really concerning.”
North Central’s early struggles were punctuated by a technical foul called on Esry and a 22-6 deficit for the Pirates. But NCMC went to its bench looking for a spark and it got one. Atavian Butler would lead all scorers in the game with a career-high 32 points to go with 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. He was at times unguardable and brought North Central back.
“I thought (Butler) was the best player on the floor tonight and his aggressive mindset carried over to everyone else, which helped us gain a lead,” Esry said. “The end wasn’t the prettiest for us, but our guys found a way to hit free throws and get key rebounds when we needed stops.”
The Pirates still had to hang on even after taking a double digit lead in the second half. John Wood rallied one final time and had the ball, trailing by a single point in the final minute. The Pirates got the stop, however, and a rebound on a missed John Wood free throw sealed the two-point win.
Behind Butler, North Central got 15 points from Quinan Rieves and 13 from TJ Babikir. Michael Horton had seven points and three steals and Marty Jackson finished with seven points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Pirates improved to 10-1 overall on the season with the victory.
North Central returns to action on Saturday, traveling to Creston, IA to take on Southwestern Community College. Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. North Central will travel to Overland Park for a big time match-up with Johnson County, ranked first in the nation, on Tuesday. That game will tip off at 7:30 p.m.