Looking to achieve a historic victory for its men’s basketball program, the #2 seed North Central Missouri College Pirates played their finest 15 minute stretch of basketball late in the first half of Friday night’s NJCAA Division 2, Region 16 semifinal against St. Louis, rallying from an early 15-6 deficit to lead 41-25 at halftime.
Knowing that 20 minutes separated the Pirates program from the school’s first postseason victory since the return of basketball to the Trenton campus in the late 1990’s, North Central began the second half, hoping to avoid the pitfalls of past NCMC teams in the same scenario.
In what can be described as an almost “cruel” re-enactment of past region nightmares, the second half was not kind to the Pirates, as St. Louis, behind a trio of three-point shots by Rashaun Amos, 11 points from Jalen Washington, and three two-point shots by Javahn Stith, used defensive tenacity and pin-point perimeter shooting to rally and outscore North Central 42-21 in the second half, claiming the five-point win, 67-62.
Washington finished with 20 points for the Archers, with Amos adding 14, Andre Pruitt 10, and Stith eight points. The Pirates, in the game played at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, had 16 points from All-Region forward Jalen Gant, while Jordan Reece added 12. North Central finishes the season with a mark of 17-11. Friday night’s game was broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7.
After the Region 16 tournament was completed, it was announced that Jalen Gant was named the region’s Player of the Year for 2017-2018. Ryan Ward and Jordan Reece of NCMC were named First-Team All-Region 16 selections.
St. Louis advanced to Saturday night’s Region 16 title game against the top-seeded Penn Valley Scouts, falling to their cross-state rivals from Kansas City, 74-59. The Scouts take a 16-12 record into Saturday’s district final against Arkansas Mid-South on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City.
