Pirates Basketball recently competed in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. The Pirates, seeded 16th, lost in the opening round to top-seeded Kirkwood Community College 96-66. In the consolation bracket, the Pirates earned their first ever national tournament win over Wake Technical Community College 89-69. Game three for NCMC was a close 95-87 loss to Ancilla College to eliminate the Pirates. The team's final record was 19-14.
Here is a detailed newspaper article from the Commercial-News about the Pirates victory in Danville.
DANVILLE — How a team responds after being eliminated from the NJCAA Division II National Tournament will typically determine how they do in the consolation bracket.
The North Central Pirates, who are making their first-ever appearance, bounced back from a 30-point loss to top-seeded Kirkwood with an 89-69 triumph over Wake Technical on the Dick Shockey Court at the Mary Miller Complex.
"I was fairly confident that we wanted to be here, and we wanted to compete and play,'' said North Central coach Jeremy Esry, as his team earned its first-ever National Tournament victory. "I thought our guys showed that as we came out with a lot of energy.''
North Central (19-13) shot a very good 62.5 percent in the first half as the Pirates build a 49-31 advantage.
"We had a great first half,'' Esry said. "We built and expanded the lead because we got good quality shots.
"I think we did a good job of attacking.''
In the second half, Wake Technical (20-13) attempted to make the comeback thanks in part to offensive rebounds.
But the Eagles were never able to cut the lead down to the single digits.
"They do such a good job on the glass,'' Esry said. "They had 21 offensive rebounds, but I thought we were contesting shots around the rim.''
Wake Technical struggled with its shooting percentage, as the Eagles shot just 30.3 percent (23-of-760 and they were just 4-of-22 from 3-point range.
In addition to giving up 21 offensive rebounds, the Pirates also turned the ball over 21 times.
"This is not typically a recipe for success,'' Esry admitted. "We knew they would get offensive rebounds, but we can't have 21 turnovers.''
North Central advances to play either Ancilla or Morton in a consolation bracket semifinal game at 9 a.m. on Friday.
"Our next hurdle will be dealing with that 9 a.m. game,'' Esry said.
Four players finished in double figures for the Pirates. Quinan Rieves led them with 18, followed by Jordan Reece (17), Marty Jackson (17) and Soloman Thomas (15). Jackson, who came off the bench for North Central, also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.
Koraan Clemonts was the leading scorer for Wake Technical with 16 points.
***Story written by Chad Dare for Commercial-News, Danville, IL. cdare@dancomnews.com***