72-60 loss to Independence makes coach doubt Panthers' will to win

Brian McDowell
Sports Editor

INDEPENDENCE — The NCCC Panthers men's basketball team just doesn't have the will to win.

That is the conclusion reached by Coach Jeremy Coombs after his squad lost a battle with the Independence Pirates Wednesday night 72-60. He was frustrated at the lack of desire that his players displayed during the course of the game.

“I don't know how you can be a college basketball player and not want to win,” Coombs said. “That's on me. I recruited these kids. Obviously, I need to take a good look at who I'm putting out there on the floor.”

Brison White, one Panther who did display the will to win, scored NCCC's first eight points in the game, helping the Panthers control the contest early, until five minutes into the game. At this point, Independence started to spring out ahead, using a balanced offensive attack to assemble a lead that kept the home team in the driver's seat through the first half.

“We got down early because we weren't running our plays, and weren't executing,” Combs said, “and then, obviously, defensively, we weren't guarding.”

The Panthers couldn't get anything to go their way during this span, picking up 10 team fouls and trailing 41-22 at halftime.

Coombs blamed the team's first half performance on a lack of discipline.

“When you put a guy in the game and he doesn't know the plays…” Coombs said. “I don't understand how they don't know the plays. I think I need to question whether or not I've got some guys that want to be college basketball players. They can talk the game, but they just don't do it.”

Neither team was able to score for the first couple of minutes of the second. Once the scoring began, the Panthers spent the first half of the session being unable to stop the Pirates for long enough to make up for the ground they lost in the first half. However, after White managed to briefly silence the rowdy cheering section of Independence students with a two-handed dunk, Neosho County did start to chip away a bit at the sizable Pirates' lead with a 12-4 run that lasted until about halfway through the half.

Offensively riding largely on White's shoulders, the Panthers had clawed their way to within nine points of Independence with less than five minutes left in the game. For the next few minutes, the Pirates seemed to have an answer for everything the Panthers put together. The Panthers went on a brief run that put them within eight points as the game entered its final point, but could not undo the damage done as Independence earned a 12-point victory.

“We made a nice little run, but it just wasn't enough,” Coombs said. “We got down too much in the first half.”

Neosho County actually outscored the opponent in the second half, and mustered almost 40 points in that span. It just couldn't stop the first half bleeding.

White was the only member of the Panthers to score in double digits in the game, coming away with 23 points.

“He's a player that comes to play,” Coombs said. “I feel bad for the ones that do, the ones who have that fight and that desire. I feel bad because some of the other guys don't have it. Guys like him are getting stuck in a situation like this.”

The Panthers next take on Labette County in Parsons on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Coombs thinks that Labette County is a more talented team than Independence.

“When we go on the road, we've got to be sharp,” Coombs said. “We've got to hit free throws. We've got to take care of the basketball. We've got to execute in order to get the win. If we don't do that at Labette, we'll get beat over there.”

NCCC 22 38 - 72

ICC 41 31 - 60