North Central Men Fall To Another Division I Opponent

Pirates’ Defense Struggles In Latest Loss To DI Foe
North Central Missouri College men’s basketball coach Jeremy Esry remembers what the competition level at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament was like last year. He likely will never forget how everything was ramped up at the event in Danville, IL.
So when it came to making the schedule for this season, Esry was sure to shuffle in a pair of late-season road trips to Division I schools in Iowa to prepare his team for a potential return trip to the national tournament.
On Tuesday night, the Pirates were defeated for the second time in three games, falling 102-91 to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, IA. It was only the third loss of the season for the Pirates, but both of the most recent losses have come against those Division I opponents.
Losing isn’t fun, but if the two defeats at Division I schools helps North Central secure a second-straight Region 16 championship next week, it will be worth it.
“We want to go into region play as tested as possible and we believe that going on the road and playing junior college powerhouses like Indian Hills and Iowa Western are going to best prepare us for a region championship and a national tournament run,” Esry said. “We thought that some of our late-season success last year had to do with playing a similar schedule and we hope that it works out for us again this year.”
To do so, North Central will need to do some work on the defensive end. The Pirates’ usually stingy defense allowed over 100 points for just the second time this season. A fast-paced first half saw the Pirates trail 50-47 at the break and things did not slow down in the second. North Central allowed 52 more points in the second half, leading to the 11-point loss.
“Iowa Western did a good job of exposing a lot of our defensive weaknesses,” Esry said. “We really struggled keeping their guards in front or having any help-side (defense) when they got by us. We have to do a much better job of keeping guys from the rim if we want to have some success in late February and early March.”
North Central’s offense allowed 14 steals, which didn’t help the final score as Iowa Western turned several of those into transition baskets.
Atavian Butler led North Central with 22 points and eight rebounds in the loss. TJ Babikir added 18 points and Marty Jackson had 16. The Pirates also got 11 points off the bench from Michael Horton and Quinan Rieves finished with 10. Jeramy Shaw had nine points in the loss.
The defeat dropped the third-ranked Pirates to 23-3 overall.
North Central was back in action on Thursday, playing host to Metropolitan Community College in Trenton. The Pirates close the regular season on Saturday, traveling to St. Louis to face the Archers. Action tips off at 3 p.m., following a women’s game between the two schools at 1 o’clock.