The Iowa Central Men's Basketball team earned two victories over the weekend at the Baymont Inn Classic held by DMACC in Boone, IA. On Friday night, Iowa Central defeated Oakland Community College of Michigan by the score of 83-77 and then on Saturday, beat County Upper Academy of England by a score of 112-57.
Friday night's game against Oakland was back and forth the whole way until finally Iowa Central was able to put some distance between the two teams with a 10 point advantage late in the game. But Oakland didn't quit and cut that lead to four points with under a minute to go. Key free throws by Tray Croft, Thomas Akamarmoi and Dallas Bailey led Iowa Central to the victory. "This was a good game for us. Oakland plays a different style than what we are normally used to seeing. We can't emulate what they do in practice so we had to learn on the fly and adjust to what they did. So that was good," said Dennis Pilcher, head coach of Iowa Central. "We didn't shoot the ball particular well from the 3 point line but we did make free throws which was the difference in the game. We finished 29-34 from the free throw line which is very good," said Pilcher.
Tray Croft led Iowa Central in scoring with a game high 31 points. Thomas Akamarmoi finished with 13, Dallas Bailey had 9 and Moses Jones with 8. Croft and Bailey each finished with 11 rebounds as well.
Saturday afternoon, Iowa Central faced off against a touring English team called County Upper Academy of Suffex, England. Every Triton got to play with 11 of them getting into the score book in the 112-57 victory. Six Tritons reached double figures with Kemryn Jenkins leading the way with 19. Royshawn Webb 16, Dallas Bailey 14, Tray Croft 13, Moses Jones 11 and Alex Dolce 10. "This was a good game for us to reward everyone with playing time. We have worked hard early in the season," said Pilcher. "I thought Kemryn and Royshawn played well and within the offense to get their points. Overall I am happy with our performance today. We did what we were supposed to do."
With the two wins, Iowa Central is now 5-1 overall. The Tritons next game will be on Monday, November 20th at home against Dakota County of Rosemount, MN. Game time will be at 7:30pm.