In a high scoring affair Saturday on the road at MCC-Penn Valley, the NCMC Men's Basketball team pulled out a 98-92 win to complete their Region 16 regular season schedule.  In region play, the Pirates are now 2-2 and 13-10 overall.  The next action for the Pirates will be at home Monday as they take on Culver Stockton College JV.  All remaining games for Coach Esry's squad will be home tilts.

The Pirates sported a balanced attack Saturday.  Five NCMC players totaled double figures in the game.  Leading the way was Jalen Gant with 24 points and 12 rebounds.  Other double digit scorers were starters Ryan Ward (17pts) and Jordan Reece (13pts) plus bench players MJ Johnson (12pts) and Yacento Scott Jr (12 pts).

Coach Esry was very pleased with his team's effort in avenging a 96-84 home loss earlier in the year against the Scouts.  "It was a very intense game Saturday at Penn Valley and I thought our guys did a great job of rising to the occasion and playing hard but smart at the same time. I thought we did a really good job as a team sharing the ball and getting everyone involved and we also did a good job as a team rebounding the ball. Total team effort, very proud of all 15 of our guys and how they brought energy and focus for 40 minutes. Hopefully we can continue that this week," remarked Esry.