Spartans stunned

A second win over North Central Missouri College this season got away from the Southwestern men Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans had beaten the Pirates 73-72 on Nov. 19 at Trenton, Missouri. After trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half (60-42), the Pirates stormed back to sink the Spartans on DeMarcus Sanford Jr.’s shot at the buzzer, 78-76.

It was a disappointing ending to what was a strong performance for much of the game by Southwestern, which took a 35-25 lead into halftime. Sophomore center Devin Tomlinson already had 18 of his game-high 22 points at the break.

But, Tomlinson and starting point guard Joel Villanueva, who had 11 points, both fouled out down the stretch as the Pirates were chipping into the Spartans’ lead. A 13-0 run brought the Pirates within five at 66-61 with 5:51 to play. From there, North Central outscored the Spartans 17-10 to improve to 8-4. Southwestern fell to 2-7.

Kam Bevel’s 3-pointer gave North Central its first lead at 76-74 with 50 seconds left. Drake Davison, who matched Villanueva with 11 points for the Spartans, answered with the tying basket and North Central turned the ball over with :03.1 left.

After a timeout to set up the attempt for a go-ahead score, Spartan sophomore Brance Baker was called for a traveling violation as took a short step along the sideline before releasing the inbounds pass.

The Pirates capitalized as Sanford Jr. received a pass and popped a 14-foot jump shot in the lane that swished at the final buzzer for the 78-76 win.

“When the ball is dead you can’t move and Brance moved,” SWCC coach Reggie Kindle, Jr. explained. “But that’s not the reason we lost. Brance played his butt off and did great things all night.”

More of a concern to Kindle was a series of foul calls. For the game, North Central had 35 free throw attempts to Southwestern’s 23 as the teams were called for a combined 52 fouls (28 against Southwestern).

“The clock was stopping every minute,” Kindle said. “It’s hard to get in a rhythm when every time you go down to the other end you’re called for a foul. I have never been one to do the blame game against officials, but we got absolutely screwed tonight. Everything around the rim for them was a foul on us. Everything around the rim wasn’t a foul for us.”

Still, for 35 minutes of game action the Spartans were in command and playing well. Kindle said his team can build on that as they begin conference play at home Wednesday against Iowa Western at 7:30 p.m. Iowa Western (7-3) is coming off a 77-70 victory Saturday over No. 4-ranked Ellsworth.

“Our kids were buying into the system with good ball movement, being unselfish and knocking down open shots,” Kindle said. “I’m proud of how our guys battled tonight. Iowa Western is a really good team. Our league is really good, with four ranked teams. We have to be ready.”

NORTH CENTRAL (78) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 25 20-35 78. Carlton Thomas 8 4-6 20, Kam Bevel 1 7-10 10, Nelson Reynolds 3 0-1 10, Sterling DeSha 3 3-5 10, DeMarcus Sanford Jr. 4 2-3 10, Isaiah Reams 2 1-3 7, Gerald Gittens 2 1-2 6, Dampier Evans 1 0-2 2, Jamaal Davis 1 1-2 3, Eric Calicutt 0 1-1 1. FG shooting — 25-46 (54.3 percent). 3-point goals — 6-18 (Reynolds 2, Gittens 1, DeSha 1, Davis 1). Rebounds — 29 (Reams 6, Thomas 7). Assists — 4 (Reams 3). Steals — 4 (Bevel 2, Evans 2). Blocked shots — 3 (Bevel 1, DeSha 1, Calicutt 1). Team fouls — 24. Fouled out — Reynolds, Gittens, Thomas.

SOUTHWESTERN (76) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 25 18-23 76. Devin Tomlinson 10 2-4 22, Joel Villanueva 4 0-0 11, Drake Davison 3 5-6 11, Tyus Wills 3 2-2 9, Patrick Worrell 2 2-2 8, Isaiah Peasley 2 0-1 6, Corbin Dozier 0 4-4 4, Brance Baker 0 3-4 3, Quincy Evans 1 0-0 2. FG shooting — 25-54 (46.3 percent). 3-point goals — 8-25 (Villanueva 3, Worrell 2 Peasley 2, Wills 1). Rebounds — 23 (Davison 4, Wills 4, Tomlinson 4, Villanueva 3, Dozier 3). Assists — 7 (Tomlinson 3, Davison 2.. Steals — 7 (Tomlinson 3, Davison 3). Blocked shots — 1 (Tomlinson 1). Team fouls — 28. Fouled out — Villanueva, Tomlinson.