NCMC Men's Basketball kicked off the Region 16 season with a convincing win over St. Louis Community College 71-56 Saturday at the Ketcham Community Center. The win improves the Pirates overall record to 10-5 on the year.
After taking a narrow 29-28 lead to halftime, the Pirates were able to pull away with excellent defense and a 42-point outburst in the second half. "I was very proud of how our guys responded in the second half. St. Louis is a very good team who was coming off a major win so we knew we had to try and match their intensity and effort the entire game which I thought we did. Hopefully this is a win that we can build off going forward," remarked Coach Esry.
"Ryan (Ward) and Cody (Glenn) did a great job of hitting shots and Jalen (Gant) and Jordan (Reece) did a great job of attacking the defense and making the right play," Esry added. "Hopefully our guys are learning what it is going to take to compete every night at the junior college level."
The Pirates attack was a balance one. Four players scored in double figures. Gant recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Next up for the Pirates will be a road game at Ellsworth Community College on Tuesday the 16th. The next Region 16 contest will be at home against MCC-Penn Valley on Wednesday the 24th.
