NPC announces NJCAA basketball schedules
National Park College released its men’s and women’s basketball schedules for the program’s first season as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The men’s team was 12-5 and the women’s team finished 1-5 in 23 combined games between them. The two teams are scheduled for for a combined 47 regular season games during the 2018-19 season.
The Nighthawks return leading scorer and rebounder Braylon Steen, of Bryant. The 6-6 forward averaged 19.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season.
Jessieville graduate Faith Bratton also returns to lead the women’s team. She averaged 20.8 points per game last season and also led the team in rebounds and assists.
The college’s teams competed as club teams last season, adhering to the rules of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. Neither team competed in NIRSA’s regional competition in March.
The men are scheduled for 25 games and the women have 22 games on their schedule. Both teams are scheduled to play on the same night 15 times, including seven home dates.
The women’s team will open the season on Nov. 2-3 at the Pioneer Classic tournament hosted by North Arkansas College in Harrison. The men’s team will open the home schedule on Nov. 5 against Cossatot Community College.
The two teams are scheduled to play at home on the same dates on Nov. 12, against Crowley’s Ridge College; Dec. 18, Jackson State Community College; Jan. 17, Southern Arkansas University Tech; Jan. 21, Rhema Bible College; Jan. 24, Arkansas State University Mid-South; Feb. 2, North Arkansas; and Feb. 18 for homecoming against Champion Christian College.
Champion and National Park College split their first two matchups last season. The Tigers took a 108-102 double-overtime home win last November before the Nighthawks won, 113-106, again in two overtimes on Jan. 2 at Bank OZK Arena. The
Nighthawks won the rubber match, 81-56, at the NPC Wellness Center in February.
The men’s team also returns K.J. Corder, a 6-3 forward from Hot Springs; Lowell Washington, a 6-3 forward from Bryant; Seth Duke, a point guard from Gravette; and Logan Willett, a guard out of Faith Prep Academy in West Memphis.
Corder was second on the team with 18.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Washington was the second-leading rebounder with 11.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Duke also started at point guard.
The Nighthawks added 12 players for the upcoming season, including Jessieville graduate Alex Burleson and Mountain Pine graduate Tyler Zander. Burleson was selected as The Sentinel-Record’s 2018 Boys Basketball Player of the Year and Zander was an All-Garland County Second Team selections.
Burleson averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and three assists per game in his senior season. Zander averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game last year.
Other returners to the women’s team include Fountain Lake’s Bailey Womack and Kayla Sims, as well as Malvern’s Laney Wallace. The team was bolstered with high school signees Summer Godwin, from Mountain Pine; Logan Keener, from Lake Hamilton; and Makayla-Kai Montiho, from Poyen. Hailee Crosby, of Mountain Pine, also joined the team as a transfer from Ouachita Baptist.
XZeroSports will continue to broadcast Nighthawks basketball this year. Announcers Mark Oliver and Nathan Looper return to call the live-streamed games on http://www.xzerosports.com.
“As a broadcaster, I couldn’t be happier to be returning alongside Nathan Looper as the voice of the NPC Nighthawks,” Oliver said. “Last year, we laid the groundwork for what this program can be. This year, we look to blow that out of the water and create an exciting experience for Nighthawks fans across the country.”