The North Central Missouri College men, after running into a barrage of three-pointers in a loss at Southwestern Community College on Wednesday, November 21st, rebounded last night with a 85-68 win over the Missouri Valley JV, riding a 48-24 advantage through the first 20 minutes to the win at the Ketcham Community Center.
Freshman forward Marty Jackson came off the bench for Coach Jeremy Esry to score a game-high 14 points for North Central, with Yacento Scott, Soloman Thomas, and Cameron Lockett all adding 11. Lockett had a team-high 10 rebound, with Jake Salisbury grabbing nine.
In the pre-Thanksgiving loss at Southwestern, the host Spartans moved to 7-0 on the strength of 16 three-point shots, part of a 99-75 win in Creston. Brandon Reed led SWICC with 28 points, with D’Marqueyon Whittington adding 18, Jordan Doss 14, and Noah Dersich 13 points. The Pirates had Cameron Lockett with 17 and Soloman Thomas with 12 points.
The Lady Pirates ran into a high-caliber D-2 opponent on Tuesday night in Trenton, falling to the Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils, 100-65. The setback drops North Central’s record to 4-5.
On Wednesday night of last week, the NCMC women saw their record move to .500, earning payback against Southwestern with a 101-90 win in Creston. In action broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, Da’Briauna Bables paced the offensive juggernaut with 18 points, while Dymeria Guillory had 17, Karissa Baber 15, Hailey Burrows 14, Crystal Eureste 13, and Maddie Book 12 points. Southwestern, in falling to 3-4, had 19 points from Madelyn Moya, 15 from Jasmine Aviles, 13 points from C’Anne Hunter, with Remie Haynes and Tina Lair-Van Meter both scoring 12. The win evened the season series between the schools at 1-1, after Southwestern had won at North Central on Tuesday, November 13th.
The Pirate men have a road trip to Parsons, Kansas this weekend, playing two games on the campus of Labette Community College. The NCMC men play Labette on Friday night at 7 o’clock, with a neutral site game against Hesston on Saturday at 12 noon.
The Lady Pirates will host the Missouri Valley junior varsity on Friday night at 5:30, looking to move back to .500 on the season.