Behind a game-high 25 point, 10 rebound on his “Sophomore Day” game by Jalen Gant, the North Central Missouri College men won their regular season final, 97-83 on Saturday afternoon at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
Jake Salisbury, coming off the bench to Coach Jeremy Esry, who started five sophomores, had a 14 point effort for the Pirates, with Ryan Ward scoring 16, Cody Glenn 12, and Jordan Reece 10 points.
Playing their best basketball of the season to date, the Pirates head to Jefferson City for the Region 16 postseason tournament, playing #3 seed St. Louis in the semifinal round on Friday night at 7 o’clock from Jason Gymnasium on the campus of Lincoln University. That game will be broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7.
In the loss for North Arkansas, Kamari Belton had 29 points, Roberto Galvin 20, while Mitch Closser added 11 points.
The season-long struggles against ranked competition continued in Saturday’s opener for the Lady Pirates, as Northark spoiled Sophomore Day with a 66-54 victory. Sophomore Hannah Villines scored 25 points to lead the Pioneers, with Maya Hood adding 12. For the Lady Pirates, finishing the regular season at 21-9, Sarah Lamp had 13, and Kendey Eaton 11.
The Lady Pirates open postseason play on Friday night in Jefferson City, playing the #2 seed Penn Valley Scouts in the semifinals of Region 16 at 5 o’clock. Pregame hits the air at 4:45 on Hot Country Z 101.7, with Tom Johnson on the play-by-play call.
Should either North Central team win on Friday, they would advance to the Region 16, D-2 championship games on Saturday night, with, in that scenario, the women playing either Cottey or St. Louis at 6 PM, with the men playing Penn Valley at 8 PM, both on Hot Country Z 101.7.
