In a highly-anticipated game of nationally-ranked top-15 junior college teams, the #14 (NJCAA D-2) North Central Missouri College Pirates traveled to Overland Park, Kansas on Tuesday night for a meeting with unbeaten, #1 Johnson County Community College. In a strong showing of athleticism, heart, and talent on both ends of the floor, the Pirates controlled play through most of the night, knocking off the Cavaliers in a 91-79 final, broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7.
Marty Jackson led North Central (12-1) with 26 points, with T.J. Babikir adding 17, Quinan Rieves 14, Jeramy Shaw 12, and Atavian Butler 11 points. Head Coach Jeremy Esry joined Tom Johnson in the postgame show from Overland Park:
Point guard JaQuaylon Mays had a game-high 28 points for JCCC, now 10-1 on the season. Dale Talley III and 6’8″ center Lukas Milner both had 11.
Here is the call of the final seconds of NCMC’s victory:
With the Pirate men earning a road victory that likely will send, barring a Thursday night upset loss to the Central Methodist JV, North Central into the Top 10 in next week’s national poll, the Lady Pirates remained at home on Tuesday night, hosting the Missouri Valley junior varsity. Despite 30 points from Kortlyn Rounkles, the NCMC women lost for the fourth time this season, falling to the Lady Vikings 81-73. Lily Osborn had 17 points and Kennedie Kieffer 10 for North Central, with the lack of balanced scoring spelling a difficult night for the team. Of note in the loss was an elevated turnover number for North Central, giving up the ball 24 times.
The 2019 portion of the basketball season is beginning its ‘wind-down’ for the Pirate teams, with the North Central men wrapping up the calendar year with a 7 o’clock home date with the Central Methodist JV on Thursday at the Ketcham Community Center. The Lady Pirates will host the Marshalltown (Iowa) Tigers at 2 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, then travel to Florida for their annual Winter Break trip to the Sunshine State, playing ASA College in Miami on Monday night at 7 o’clock, followed by a test from Miami-Dade College on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30. The Lady Pirates, coming off of Tuesday night’s set-back, sit at a still-strong 8-4 on the season.
