Big second quarter pushes WNCC past Otero

               The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team put five in double figures and used a late second-quarter run to earn a 77-65 South Sub-region win over Otero College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace. 

                WNCC moved to 12-8 overall and 2-1 in sub-region play. The Cougars will have two sub-region games next week when they travel to North Platte Community College on Tuesday before hosting McCook Community College on Friday. 

The big key in the win was the final 10 minutes of the game. WNCC trailed Otero 50-49 after surrendering a 42-35 lead early in the second half. What the Cougars did in that final 10 minutes was con on a 18-4 run to go ahead 67-55 with 5:48 to play. Willie Wilson, who led the team with 14 points in the win, said after Friday’s loss to Trinidad, the team didn’t want to lose two straight on their home court for their fans. 

                “The key in the last 10 minutes was we knew how Friday’s game ended and today we didn’t want our fans to see us lose back-to-back especially at home,” Wilson said. “We wanted to come out in conference play 1-1. I feel like just sticking together and every one just listening to each other made everybody stick together.” 

Wilson added the team started slow but came together in the second half. 

                “We started off a little bit going back and forth, but in the second half, after talking with coach and amongst ourselves, the team, I feel like we came out stronger and we finished stronger,” Wilson said. “We played the second half with a lot more energy.” 

                The big key in the win was the final 10 minutes of the game. WNCC trailed Otero 50-49 after surrendering a 42-35 lead early in the second half. What the Cougars did in that final 10 minutes was con on a 18-4 run to go ahead 67-55 with 5:48 to play. Wilson said the last 10 minutes was how they played on defense and the energy the used. 

                “The defense was big for us,” he said. “We like to say stop, score, stop, score, stop, score and that is kind of what we did. We just wanted to make sure we locked in on getting a stop first and then getting a rebound and then getting our sets right on offense.” 

                The first 30 minutes of the game was a battle. WNCC opened leading 13-4 in the first and only trailed once in the first half. Otero came back to cut the Cougar lead to 10-18 and later tied the game at 29-29. Wilson hit a bucket to put WNCC back on top.  

                Once again the lead was tied at 31, but WNCC got back-to-back buckets by Daniel Bula and Elijah Burney to go up 35-31 before settling for a 35-33 lead at intermission. 

                Otero hit the first bucket of the second half to tie the came before WNCC buried back-to-back 3-pointers by Wilson and JJ Harris to take a 42-35 lead. That was where Otero went on an 8-0 run to lead 43-42 and would lead 50-49 with about 10 minutes to play. 

                That was when the Cougars went wild, scoring seven straight points including a deep 3-pointer by Bula for a 56-50 lead. The Cougars later went on a 9-0 run to lead 67-54 including a 3-pointer by Maurice Walker. Otero never could get to within single digits and the Cougars went up by 17 points at 77-60 on a Wilson bucket and won 77-65. 

                WNCC shot 39 percent from the field and were 6-of-21 from beyond the arc. Otero shot 41 percent and were 5-of-20 from the 3-point line. The game was won at the charity stripe. WNCC hit 21-of-27 while Otero was just 8-of-12.  

                WNCC also won the rebound battled 47-37. Harris and Anthony Simo each had seven boards. 

                Five Cougars hit double digits. Wilson had 14 points followed by Harris, Walker, and Simo each with 12 points, and Bula tallying 10.  

Otero                    33 32 – 65 

WNCC                 35 42 – 77 

OTERO 

Isaiah Poindexter 15, Elijah McNeil 4, LaSon Walker 13, Ty Burbank 3, Felipe Carter 10, Tay Mosher 7, Jamir Todd 6, Josh Lawson 4, Antony Harris 3. 

WNCC 

JJ Harris 12, Maurice Walker 12, Anthony Simo 12, Willie Wilson 14, Travis Easterly, Jr. 6, Stephen Ovia 1, Elijah Burney 2, Daniel Bula 10, Kayden Nation 8. 

WNCC lead from start to finish in 61-47 win over Otero 

                The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team never trailed and pulled down 52 rebounds in earning the 61-47 South Sub-region win over Otero College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace. 

                A big win in the win for the Cougars was allowing Otero to get back-to-back buckets twice and that was it. WNCC head coach Isaac Lu said he didn’t realize that his team did that, but when you can limit your opponent to not making those mini-runs, you will win most of your games. 

                “Despite this being an uglier game where shots were not falling, we did the two things that really matter when coming to basketball games which is defending and rebounding,” Lu said. “We out-rebounded them both on the defensive and offensive glass and we got stops when it mattered especially in that fourth quarter where they dug deep and made sure we took away wide open looks for their shooters and defended and not foul them in the paint. It was a great effort my then tonight.” 

                Lu said it wasn’t the prettiest game as the teams traded buckets left and right with WNCC’s biggest lead coming at the final margin of 14 points. 

                “If our shots were falling, I think we could have blown this one open,” Lu said. “That is what we need to do on a consistent basis. When teams can’t make multiple baskets and we stop them going on runs, and you can make runs on your own and defend other teams from going on runs, you will be pretty successful on any given night.” 

                WNCC and Otero were tied at 8-8 and that was when WNCC went on a 6-0 run on buckets by Laura Montiel and Faith Walker and two free throws by Mackenzie Joseph to lead 14-8 after one period. 

                WNCC kept the lead at three to four points through the second quarter even though Otero outscored then 16-14 and had a 6-point lead at 28-22 late before the Rattlers made the last bucket of the half. WNCC led at halftime 38-24. 

                The third quarter was one that both teams battled. Otero had back-to-back buckets to start the third to cut the deficit to one, 30-29, but WNCC found ways to stay in the lead as Joseph responded with a trey to make it 33-29. WNCC led 45-37 late in the third on a Montiel bucket and led 46-38 after three periods. 

                The fourth quarter saw the Cougars clamp down, holding Otero to just nine points while scoring 15 themselves. WNCC went up by 10 points, 55-45, on a Montiel old-fashioned 3-point play and followed that with a 3-pointer by Amiyah Donaldson. WNCC won 61-47. 

                Both teams shot 31 percent, but the Cougars won the game at the free throw line. WNCC was 15-of-24 from the stripe while Otero was just 5-of-15. 

                WNCC also out-rebounded the Rattlers 52-44. Joseph led the way with 11 boards followed by nine from Gal-La Font and seven from Montiel. Montiel, the 5-foot-8 point guard, also led with two blocked shots. 

                WNCC had four in double figures, led by Donaldson and Walker with 14 points each. Joseph finished with 11 points while Montiel had 10 points.  

                WNCC 18-3 overall and 3-0 in sub-region play, will be back in action next week when they travel to North Platte Community College on Tuesday and then hosting McCook Community College on Friday.  

Otero                    8 16 14 9 – 47 

WNCC (18-3)    14 14 18 15 – 61 

OTERO 

Alexa Peraza 3, Anna Cera Curiel 3, Alyssa Trujillo 11, Jayden Jenkins 3, Gia Bradley 6, Nyla Owens 11, Hedda Kohne 10. 

WNCC 

Amiyah Donaldson 14, Ebere Egbirika 3, Gal-La Font 7, Faith Walker 14, Laura Montiel 10, Mackenzie Joseph 11, Adelina Urtane 2.