The NCMC Pirates went on the road Wednesday to Indian Hills Community College, the 8th ranked NJCAA Division I program in the nation, and took a one-point lead into the half before ultimately being defeated 99-84. With the loss, the Pirates are now 13-11 overall. Next they will travel to Southeast Community College on Saturday. NCMC defeated Southeast by 18 points earlier in the season at the Ketcham Center.
Leading the offensive attack for the Pirates at Indian Hills was freshman Marty Jackson. He totaled 25 points on 9-16 shooting. Jackson continued his solid play as he followed up his 18-point effort against St. Louis CC.
Three more Pirates also scored in double figures in the upset bid. Jordan Reece netted 18 points while Emil Spriggs totaled 11 and Solomon Thomas chipped in 10.
Coach Esry had these comments about the game. "I loved the way our guys played last night, unfortunately we just didn't have enough left in the tank to finish out what was a much closer game than the final score indicates. We knew it would be a large task going into the game and challenged our guys to just get better in every aspect of the game, which I think we did, especially in the first half where we were able to stretch the lead out. Second half they exposed us in a couple of areas where we need to improve but overall I was really proud of how our guys played for 40 minutes. Now we have to learn to play with that same energy and focus for every practice and game."