The Independence Community College men’s basketball team played in their first pre-conference classic of the year as they traveled to West Plains, MO. The Pirates faced Missouri-State West Plains in the opening game.
ICC found themselves down 12 points in the early going against West-Plains. The bench provided the Pirates with some much needed energy and cut the Grizzly lead to one point deficit 28-27. The Grizzlies would hit a shot right before the buzzer to go into the half with a 31-28 lead.
In the second half, the Pirates battled hard. With a 1:48 left in the game, ICC had a chance to take the lead after a Michael Craion steal, but West Plains tapped it from behind and came down and scored to take a 3 point lead 65-62. Mekan Moss had a chance to tie the game, but his 3 point attempt came up short as the Pirates lost 62-68.
TJ Stukes led the Pirates with 14 points. James Bush was the only other Pirate in double-figures with 10. Bush also led the Pirates in rebounds with 10 and Mekan Moss followed with 9 rebounds, respectively.
Rebounding was again a problem for the Pirates. The Grizzlies ate the offensive glass up as they had 24 offensive rebounds.
In the second contest, ICC faced a tough Northeastern Oklahoma A & M team. The Pirates got off to a slow start, but battled back and cut the deficit to two points at 28-26. ICC quickly lost the lead as NEO went on a 6-0 run to take a 34-26 advantage into half.
Fresh out of the gate in the second half, the Pirates gave up 8 straight points to find themselves down 16 and it was an uphill battle after that. ICC ended up losing the contest 69-49.
ICC was led in scoring by freshman Michael Craion with 12 points. Mekan Moss added 10 points in the losing effort. Freshman Donald Rowe added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
In the third contest, ICC faced the Mid-America JV Pioneers. ICC jumped out to an early lead and it was smooth sailing from that point. ICC took a 50-19 lead into half-time and won the game 85-48.
Antonio Hanson led the Pirates with 17 points, including 3/3 from behind the arc. Daniel Rowe added 13 and James Bush added 11. Bush also led the Pirates in rebounds with 9.
On the season, ICC moved to 2-3 overall and will travel to Great Bend, KS to play in the Barton County Booster Club Classic. The Pirates will face Northern Oklahoma-Enid at 4pm on Friday, November 16th and and Sterling College J.V. at 4 pm on Saturday, November 17th.