WNCC men capture ninth win of the season with win over LCCC

               The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team wrapped up the first semester in fine fashion, earning their third straight victory in downing Laramie County Community College 89-82 on Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC pushed their record to 9-3 on the season.

                The Cougars put five players in double figures. Them Koang led the way with 24 points, including eight rebounds. Rodney Sawyer added 21 points with nine boards. Agwa Nywesh finished with 14 points and seven boards while Biko Johnson had 13 points and seven boards and Carter Brown had 10 points with three 3-pointers.

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said they played well in spurts.

                “I thought overall we played really well,” Engel said. “There were times we struggled with the basketball, but we were competitive for 40 minutes. When you compete as hard as these young me do, you will give yourself a chance to win a basketball game. “

                A big sign of the making of a good basketball team is stopping their opponent’s runs and WNCC did just exactly that. WNCC trailed just twice in the contest with the first and second buckets of the game. After that, the Cougars only allowed the Golden Eagles get to within a couple points a couple times throughout the game.

                “That has been what we are; they find a way to win basketball games,” Engel said. “There is certainly no shortage of talent on our team, but we have to be mature enough to understand that a lot of teams in our league that we play during the year have a lot of talent. We just can’t rely on our talent; we have to be competitive and continue defending and rebounding the way we are supposed to?

                The men’s game was also close at the beginning as WNCC held an 8-4 lead and the 8-6. The Cougars then went on a 17-6 run behind a 3-pointer by Aqwa Nywesh. The Cougars pushed the lead to 25-14 before LCCC cameback with a 10-0 run to cut the score to 25-24. WNCC responded with an 8-0 run to lead 33-24 and led at halftime 35-26.

                The second half saw WNCC jump to a 19-point lead at 59-40 and led 66-50 on a Them Koang bucket. LCCC cameback with an 11-0 run to slice the lead to 66-61. The Golden Eagles later cut the lead to 71-69 with six minutes to play. WNCC answered as they went up 81-73 including a dunk by Carl Thorpe.

                LCCC had one last gasp as they cut the lead to 84-80, but a bucket by Rodney Sawyer with a minute to play pushed the lead to 86-60 and the Cougars hit clutch free throws down the stretch for the win.

                LCCC shot 51 percent from the field and 27 percent from beyond the art (7-of-26).

                WNCC was even hotter, shooting 58 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-22). Brown and Nywesh each had three treys, whole Sawyer knocked down two.

                WNCC, 9-3, will off until January 7 and 8 when they head to Windsor, Colorado, to play in a crossover tournament at Power to Play Sports. WNCC will face Central Wyoming on January 7 and Western Wyoming the next day. The Cougars next home contest will be January 10 when they host Casper College.

 

LCCC                      26 56 – 82

WNCC                   35 54 – 89

WNCC

Carter Brown 10, Rodney Sawyer 21, Biko Johnson 13, Carl Thorpe 4, Agwa Nywesh 14, Chancelor Johnson 1, Turumbil Zaki 2, Them Koang 24.

LCCC

Derrick Harden 3, Ghared Harden 7, Xavier McCord 7, Nolan Causwell 26, Jaedon Bradley 17, Max Reyes 22.

WNCC women earn ninth straight win, topping LCCC 72-57

               It was the final contest before the semester break and the 10^th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team wanted to end the first semester on a positive note and they did that, using a strong first half and then held off a LCCC second half rally to earn a 72-57 win.

It was the ninth straight win for the Cougars as they will be off until January 10 when they host Casper College. WNCC finished the first semester at 14-1.

                WNCC sophomore Amani Brown said they played Ok, but they could have played better in the second half.

                “I thought we played decent, but at times we weren’t as focused,” Brown said. “As a whole, we won the game and that’s all that matters.”

                Both teams started slow in all four quarters. The opening quarter saw the score knotted at seven before WNCC went on a 13-0 run behind the play of Martrice Brooks, who had five points for a 20-7 lead. WNCC led 27-12 after one.

                WNCC did not open the second quarter strong as they held a 31-12 lead and then went scoreless for the next three minutes as LCCC cut the lead to 31-18. The Cougars picked it up late, leading 47-25 at halftime.

                “The first half we were more aware and wanted to win the game,” Brown said. “The second half we weren’t as locked in and the game got away from us a little bit.”

                Any ideal of a blowout win was erased in the second half as LCCC outscored WNCC in both the third and fourth quarter. LCCC outscored the Cougars 14-13 in the third and the Golden Eagles trailed 60-39 after three.

                The fourth quarter saw the Golden Eagles cut the lead to 13 at 60-37 and later went on a 7-0 to come within seven, 64-57 with four minutes to play. WNCC held LCCC scoreless the rest of the half as Ale’Jah Douglas had a big 3-pointers and then a steal for two easy points for the 72-57 win.

                WNCC had just two in double figures as Douglas had 20 points while Brown finished with 15.

                Both teams shot similar. The Cougars shot 50 percent in the first half and just 30 percent in the second half for 40.3 percent. WNCC buried just five treys on the night, led by two each from Douglas and Brown.

                LCCC shot 35 percent in the first half and 45 percent in the second half for 41.2 percent.

                LCCC did out-rebound the Cougars 38-34. Martrice Brooks had seven boards to lead the Cougars while Payton Fields and Brown each had five.

                WNCC, who is leading the nation in scoring, will be off until January 10 and 11 when Casper and Central Wyoming come to Cougar Palace.

                The nearly four weeks off will be something the Brown said the players need to stay in shape as they aim to make another run at the national tournament during the holiday break.

                “We need to make sure we hold ourselves accountable and not let ourselves out of shape,” Brown said.

 

LCCC                      12 13 14 18 – 57

WNCC (14-1)      27 20 13 12 – 72

WNCC

Ale’Jah Douglas 20, Yara Garcia 1, Amani Brown 15, Aminata Zie 5, Breanna Fowler 2, Martrice Brooks 7, Shanti Henry 3, Ashley Panhem 4, Payton Fields 7, Shayane Poirot 1, Isabelle Cook 7.

LCCC

Riley Van Tassell 6, Ariadna Bleda 5, Kian Omer-Jones 7, Nikola Kuzmanovic 10, Halle Hester 12, Laia Balcells 4, Sam Hester 4, Monique Marcetic-Vaotangi 9.