The North Central Missouri College Pirates, on a day that saw the Pirates move to #3 in the country and earn a first-place vote, were challenged in a big way by Kansas City Kansas on Monday night at the Ketcham Community Center.
Up by only three points (43-40) at the half, North Central, playing without top interior scorer Jon Carroll, pulled away in the second half for an 86-71 win. It is the second win over the Blue Devils for North Central, sending the Pirates into Thanksgiving with a perfect 9-0 record.
Tyler King paced North Central with 27 points with the majority of Carroll’s minutes going to Deng Gak, who added 13 points and 8 rebounds in a starting role. Camden Bennett had 19 and Giovanni Mack 15 for NCMC.
The Pirates will next be in action on Friday night, opening the NCMC Classic with a home game against Spoon River (IL) Community College at 7 o’clock (on KGOZ FM 101.7).
For KCKCC, coached by former NCMC Pirate Brandon Burgette, Pierce Ross had 16 points. Camron Williford had 14 points and B.J. Stewart 12 for the Blue Devils in defeat.
In Monday’s national Division Two poll, NCMC moved up a spot to #3, with 208 points and one of 11 first place votes. Davidson-Davie (NC) Community College is top-ranked, with 10 of 11 first place votes. Macomb Community College is in the second position with 216 points, eight more than NCMC.
The Lady Pirates, off until a Wednesday, December 4th trip to Allen County (Kansas) Community College, remained 12th in Monday’s national rankings. NCMC is on a six game winning streak, with the only team to beat the Lady Pirates, the Highland Scotties, sitting at 9-0 and at #7 in the national poll.
