Big second half leads WNCC men over Willison

               Gillette, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team put three in double figures and used a strong second half to register the 81-66 win over Williston State College Sunday morning in the Border Wars Invite in Gillette, Wyoming.

                The Cougars and Williston were hooked up in a battle in the first half as WNCC led 41-37 at intermission.

                It was the second half where the Cougars went wild both offensively and defensively, going on a 13-0 run to open a tight ball game in which the Cougars held the Tetons scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half.

                Up until the second half, though, it was a battle as WNCC took a 27-20 lead in the first half behind an offense rebound putback by Carl Thorpe and a 3-pointer by Rodney Sawyer. Williston came back and had the lead trimmed to two points on a couple occasions, Dimitrije Nikolic closed out the first-half scoring with a bucket and the 41-37 halftime lead.

                The second half started as Biko Johnson scored seven of the 13 points that also included a big 3-pointer from Thorpe. Williston finally got on the scoreboard on a 3-pointer with 14:14 to play. WNCC pushed the lead to 19 at 59-40 on a Daniel Bula 3-pointer and led by 20 points at 66-46 after a trey from Maurice Walker and a bucket by Bula.

                Williston State did cut the lead to 14 at 74-60, but Caio Monteiro and Walker had bucket to push the lead back to 78-60 and the Cougars went on to win 81-66.

                WNCC had 11 of the 12 players score in the contest. Thorpe and Walker each had 16 points while Zach O’Callaghan had 11 points. Thorpe had a double-double with 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points.

                Johnson had nine points while Bula had eight points.

                Shooting was about the same on both teams. WNCC shot 42 percent while Williston shot 43 percent. Both teams buried seven 3-pointers. Walker had four treys for the Cougars.

                WNCC won the rebound total 46-37 as Dula had 11 rebounds and Thorpe 10.

                WNCC, 6-4 and winners of three straight, will be back in action this weekend when they host the WNCC Classic on Friday and Saturday. WNCC will face Northwest College on Friday and then Jumpstart Academy on Saturday.

 

WNCC (6-4)         41 48 – 81

Williston               37 29 – 66

WNCC

Rodney Sawyer 6, CJ Johnson 6, Biko Johnson 9, Carl Thorpe 16, Daniel Bula 8, Dimitrije Nikolic 2, Enzo Clouvel-Urie 2, Maurice Walker 16, Servio Burchell 2, Caio Monteiro 3, Zach O’Callaghan 11.

WNCC women fall to Williston

                GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team saw their 5-game winning streak come to a halt after falling to Williston State College 66-57 Sunday afternoon in the final day of the Border War Invite at Gillette College.

                The Cougars lost the contest because of shooting where they were just 30 percent from the field and 29 percent (6-of-21) from beyond the arc. Williston was just opposite as the Tetons were 47 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-18).

                Early on, though, the Cougars were doing great as they held a 12-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes when Yara Garcia drained a trey at the end of the quarter.

                The second quarter saw Williston take a 19-18 lead by the Cougars went in front 22-19. That was the Cougars last lead of the game as they trailed at halftime 30-28.

                The third quarter was the difference as Williston went up 39-29 in the first three minutes and pushed the lead to 47-31 after back-to-back 3-pointers. WNCC came back, scoring the final seven points of the quarter on a 3-pointer by Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo and a bucket by Garcia to trail after three quarters 47-38.

                The fourth quarter saw the Cougars cut the lead to four at 49-45 after a Shiho Isono steal and bucket and a Bre Fowler triple. The Tetons went back up front by nine and eight points, and then led 60-49 with 34.3 second to play. WNCC tried coming back as Fowler and Jayla Owen hit 3-pointers, but Williston hit clutch free throws at the end for the win.

                WNCC had four players in double figures. Fowler led the way with 13 points with two 3-pointers. Isono had 12 points and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Sarkodee-Adoo finished with 10 points while Garcia had nine points.

WNCC, 8-4, will be back in action this weekend when they host a classic on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars will face Northwest College on Friday and then Central Wyoming College on Saturday.

WNCC (8-4)         12 16 18 19 – 57

Williston               10 20 17 19 – 66

WNCC

Shiho Isono 12, Jayla Owen 4, Bre Fowler 13, Ola Duda 4, Yara Garcia 9, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 10, Mackenzie Joseph 2, Faith Walker 3.