19th ranked men's basketball swept their weekend games at the NCMC Classic. On Friday night, they took down a scrappy Kansas City Kansas CC squad 98-80. Saturday saw them knock off #1 ranked and defending national champion Des Moines Area CC 78-65. The Pirates are now 3-0 before a road trip to Ellsworth CC on Tuesday. The team won't be back in action in the Ketcham Center until Tuesday, Nov. 16th.
The win over KCKCC was the 100th in the coaching career of Jeremy Esry.
As sweet as that win was, taking down #1 DMACC was even better. It marked the second time NCMC has defeated a NJCAA DII #1 ranked team, with the first coming in the 2019-20 season when the Pirates went on the road and took down Johnson County CC.
Against KCKCC, Sterling DeSha led the Pirates attack with 25 points. Sophomore Kolten Griffin also played a sensational game, netting 20 points and pulling down 15 rebounds.
The Pirates were shorthanded against DMACC with Isaiah Ervin and Riak Mabour each serving a 1 game suspension for each getting a pair of technical fouls against KCKCC. Stepping into the starting lineup to fill the voids were sophomores Mack Anderson and Guy Moran. Each were up to the task, figuring greatly in the upset win. Anderson led all Pirates scorers with 20 points while Moran added 11. DeSha and Griffin each scored 15 points, again having nice games.
