WNCC men top NJC for big conference win

                STERLING, Colo. – Jasiya DeOllos hit two free throws with 2.8 seconds left and Carl Thorpe stole a long pass as time was running out to give the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team a huge 69-67 win over Northeastern Junior College Tuesday evening in Sterling, Colorado, in a South Sub-region contest.

                The win keeps the Cougars hope to host a first-round playoff game as they move to 15-11 overall and 4-6 in South Sub-region play.

                WNCC is now tied for fourth in conference play with McCook Community College at 4-6 and they are just a half-game out of third, trailing Lamar Community College, who has a 4-5 sub-region record. The top team in the sub-region hosts the Region IX tournament and gets a bye while the next three teams host a first-round game the weekend of February 25 and 26.

                The standings were made interesting on Tuesday as there were some big games, including Trinidad State College upending Otero College 100-87 and McCook taking out North Platte Community College 71-65.

                WNCC has two regular season games left as they face Lamar on Thursday at Lamar, Colorado, in a big conference game. WNCC wraps up the regular season on Tuesday with they host North Platte at 6 p.m.

                “This win was huge for our team,” DeOllos said. “After dropping three straight, we needed to get back headed in the right direction and feel like tonight’s win will give us some momentum to finish our last two regular season games.”

                A big reason for the win was the fight the Cougars put up on the road, especially late in the game.

                “We were resilient,” DeOllos said. “It wasn’t the prettiest win but we got the job done. As a team, we could’ve thrown in the towel being down six with just a few minutes to go, but our team came together and did what needed to be done to get us back in the win column.”

                The first half was a back and forth 20 minutes as the teams were tied at 11-11 with 12;55 to play. WNCC had a 16-13 lead only to watch the Plainsmen come back to lead 33-31 late. WNCC rebounded and retook the lead on a Agwa Nywesh bucket. The Plainsmen answered to retake the lead by one. Rodney Sawyer came back down the court and hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Cougars the 36-35 halftime lead.

                The second half saw NJC lead 43-40. WNCC scored seven straight to grab a 47-40 lead on five points from Sawyer. NJC bounced back to lead 50-47 and led by eight points with about five minutes to play at 63-55.

                That was when the Cougars made a big run. Nywesh hit three straight buckets, including a big 3-pointer to bring the Cougars to within 65-62. NC answered with a bucket for a 67-62 lead. Sawyer hit a bucket to make it a 3-point game and then Thorpe hit a big 3-pointer with 55 seconds to play to tied the game at 67-67.

                WNCC then played a strong defensive game holding NJC without making a bucket and getting some key rebounds. With under 30 seconds to play, WNCC had the ball and was working for a last second shot. The Cougars missed once, but got the rebound and missed another shot and the ball came back to DeOllos who tipped the ball up and was fouled as the ball hit the rim with 2.8 seconds to play.

                NJC called two timeouts while DeOllos was at the foul line, but the Scottsbluff High graduate nailed both free throws to give the Cougars the 69-67 lead. NJC had trouble inbounding the ball and the Plainsmen had to call another timeout. This time they got the ball in to around the halfcourt line and the next pass the Plainsmen attempted went to the paint and Thorpe reached out and stole the ball and dribbled twice and the clock ran out giving the Cougars the win.

                WNCC was led in scoring by Nywesh with 20 points, including four 3-pointers followed by Koang with 14 and Sawyer with 11.

 

WNCC (15-11)                    36 33 – 69

NJC (8-16)                            35 32 – 67

WNCC

Agwa Nywesh 20, Them Koang 14, Rodney Sawyer 11, Biko Johnson 6, Carl Thorpe 4, Carter Brown 7, Chancellor Johnson 3, Turumbil Zaki 2, Jasiya DeOllos 2.

WNCC women roll over NJC

                STERLING, Colo. – The 4^th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put all 13 players in the score book as the Cougar women rolled to an 85-51 win over Northeastern Junior College Tuesday evening in Sterling, Colorado.

                The win was the Cougars 19^th straight and moved the Cougars to 24-1 on the season with two regular season games left.

                “The team has definitely been playing through a lot adversity,” WNCC sophomore Ale’Jah Douglas said. “For us, it’s not so much about the winning but more so how we win and what our team is working on within to accomplish what we want to entering post season.”

                A big reason for the win is the team’s depth. All 13 players that played scored led by Douglas with 19 points followed by Martrice Brooks with 14.

                “It says a lot for everyone to be able to come into the game and contribute,” Douglas said. “The depth of this team is solid in each position with anyone being able to come into the game and do their thing in many different ways. This is what allows us to throw so many different looks at teams to keep them on their feet with not knowing what we’re going to do.”

                A big key for the win was the way the Cougars started. WNCC jumped out to an 18-0 lead led by eight points from Douglas, including a 3-pointer and a trey by Amani Brown.

                Douglas said the way the team started was a big reason for the win.

                “The team played really good today especially in the first quarter with jumping out on the other team early on both ends of the floor,” she said.

                NJC finally scored with 4:15 to play but WNCC stayed strong, running to a 28-7 lead after the first quarter.

                The second quartersawn NJC score the first three points before WNCC erupted for seven straight as Brooks had five of the seven and Shayane Poirot had the other two. WNCC led 40-15 at halftime.

                The third quarter saw the Cougars outscored the Plainswomen 20-12 in the 10-minute third quarter. WNCC led by just 12 points at 47-25 before the Cougars went on a 13-2 run to close out the third. Brown had four points including back-to-back buckets followed by five points from Douglas, including a trey to lead 60-27 after three.

                The fourth quarter saw WNCC lead 68-29 behind a bucket by Rashaan Smith. WNCC stayed strong the rest of the game as they ran off back-to-back buckets on three different occasions to double-up the Plainswomen 82-41 and races to the 85-51 win.

                WNCC shot 37 percent from the field and buried eight 3-pointers. The Cougars were 11-of-20 from the free throw line. NJC shot 30 percent from the field and buried seven treys. NJC was just 10-of-22 from the charity stripe.

                WNCC won the rebound battle 61-46.

                After Douglas and Brooks’ double-digit performance, Brown and Shanti Henry each had nine points followed by eight points from Smith.

                WNCC, 24-1 on the season and 8-0 in the South Sub-region, will have two regular season games left. The Cougars will travel to Lamar Community College on Thursday before hosting NJC on Monday in a game that was rescheduled from a postponed game in January. Monday’s contest starts at 6 p.m. and it will also be sophomore recognition night.

                Douglas said to finish out the regular season with two wins, they need to still work to get better.

                “To close out the last two regular season games with wins, we need to focus going into each game working on what we need to and having discipline on both ends,” The Clemson signee said. “It’s not so much about neither team but more so how we play with tightening up on things we need to work on as a whole.”

 

WNCC (24-1)                      28 12 20 25 – 85

Northeastern Colorado 7 8 12 24 – 51

WNCC

Ale’Jah Douglas 19, Yara Garcia 2, Amani Brown 9, Breanna Fowler 3, Martrice Brooks 14, Shanti Henry 9, Ashley Panem 6, Payton Fields 5, Shayane Poirot 2, Isabelle Cook 2, Genet Mebratu. 1, Mia Jaye Sarodee-Adoo 5, Rashaan Smith 8.