The North Central Missouri College Pirates traveled 3 1/2 hours west to Beatrice, Nebraska on Wednesday night, looking to payback the Southeast Community Storm for a loss that SECC put on North Central at the Ketcham Community Center on January 21st.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, the strength of a long mid-first half run was muted by poor execution in the late moments of an 86-84 loss that drops NCMC to 10-7 on the season.
Freshman forward Jalen Gant, coming off a 32 point, 16 rebound performance in a Monday night win at Ottawa University (Ottawa, KS), continued his superb play but a 20 point night for North Central, while Demetrius Houston added 15, and M.J. Johnson 14 points and 14 rebounds. Ryan Ward scored nine points for the Pirates.
Southeast was paced by 21 points from Bobby Parker, 17 from Taylor Britt, and 12 points fro Daniel Quesenberry in earning their second win over NCMC in 11 nights.
North Central will return to Region XVI play on Saturday afternoon, playing at St. Louis Community College in a 3 o’clock game to be broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7. Coach Esry’s team will look to rebound from their first region defeat, 105-101 last Saturday to Penn Valley. The Saturday prior (January 21st), Penn Valley won by two points at St. Louis.
