North Central Posts Impressive Win Over DI Foe
Mack Anderson crashed a rebound and quickly whipped an outlet pass to Jackson Andrews, who relayed the ball down the floor to Jeramy Shaw. Shaw skipped the ball across the paint to Darius Walsh for a wide-open layup.
Transition buckets and easy points piled up for the No. 19 North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team on Monday night as the Pirates rolled to an 84-64 win over Division I State Fair Community College at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
“It was a really fun night for us because I thought we put a complete game together of playing the right way offensively,” Pirates’ coach Jeremy Esry said. “The ball didn’t stick and we were able to get great shots by sharing the ball at a high rate.”
From the onset the Pirates were finding their passing lanes and playing at a high tempo, jumping out to a 9-2 lead early. State Fair reeled the Pirates in, closing to within 13-11, but North Central answered with a 9-0 run to go up 22-11.
That would be a common theme in the first half; North Central building a lead, State Fair cutting into the deficit and the Pirates responding with another lead-building run. A 13-0 run by the Pirates bridging the end of the first half and beginning of the second sucked any drama that was there out of the game, however. North Central would hold a lead hovering around 17 or 18 points early in the second half.
The advantage hit 20 points for the first time on a free throw by Shaw with 11:13 left in the game. At that point it was essentially over as North Central was able to coast down the stretch, taking the game by the 20-point margin.
“Our guys did a great job of attacking the rim and kicking the ball to the open man,” Esry said. “Hopefully, we realized that if we can play that way and be consistent in doing so, we can have a lot more success and a lot more fun.”
North Central was paced by Shaw who had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the win. Atavian Butler followed with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Walsh went for 13 points in the win. North Central also got 10 points each from Andrews and Kolten Griffin.
The win pushed North Central to 8-5 overall on the season.
The Pirates are back at home on Saturday, playing host to Region 16 foe St. Louis. Action in the Ketcham Community Center tips off at 5:30 p.m. with a women’s game between the two schools. The men’s contest will follow, slated to tip off at 7:30.
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Three takeaways on the Pirates
– The Pirates were without point guard Damien Loyd for the second-straight game. He is nursing a groin injury and North Central will likely be without their triggerman for another week or so according to coach Jeremy Esry.
– Darius Walsh stepped up in Loyd’s absence, playing over 28 minutes in the win. That was the third-most minutes played for any Pirate behind only Atavian Butler and Jeramy Shaw. He didn’t miss a shot against State Fair either, going 3-for-3 from the field, including a 1-of-1 showing from three-point territory, and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line.
– The Pirates got the 20-point win in spite of State Fair having a very good night shooting the three-pointer. The visitors knocked down 11-of-24 shots from distance, nearly a 50 percent clip.