The North Central Missouri College Pirates, unbeaten on the season after a hard-fought home win against Johnson County on Saturday afternoon, have moved to the #2 spot in the NJCAA D-2 national men’s basketball poll, with 193 points and two first-place votes, trailing 10-0 and top-ranked Davidson-Davie (NC) Community College’s 199 points and eight first-place votes.
Des Moines Area Community College from Boone, Iowa is ranked third with an 11-1 record and 178 points, followed by Macomb (MI) Community College and Kirkwood (IA) Community College.
Ellsworth Community College (Iowa Falls, Iowa) is ranked 10th in the D-2 poll, Johnson County Community College (Overland Park, Kansas) is 14th, with North Central’s Region 16 rival, the St. Louis Community College Archers, moved up a spot to #24, with a season record of 10-1. Kansas City Kansas Community College, led at the head coaching position by NCMC alum and former Pirate player Brandon Burgette, is receiving votes.
On Saturday afternoon, the Pirate men claimed a 74-68 win over Johnson County at the Ketcham Community Center. North Central led by 13 (43-30) at the half, with the Cavaliers outscoring the Pirates 38-31 in the second half.
The Pirates had 22 points from Tyler King, with Giovanni Mack scoring 20, and Jon Carroll 11 points. Johnson County had three players score in double digits, led by Gavin Harvey with a game-high 26.
A Wednesday night loss at Allen County (KS) Community College dropped the NCMC Lady Pirates four spots in this week’s poll, down to #15. The Lady Pirates will get the opportunity to avenge a road loss to Highland on Tuesday night (5:30 PM), hosting the Scotties in the front end of a women’s/men’s doubleheader to be broadcast on KGOZ FM 101.7.
