WNCC men open season with win against Colby

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team hit for 10 first-half 3-pointers and led from start to finish to open the John Jungers’ coaching era with a 79-69 win over Colby Community College in the WNCC Classic Friday evening.

“The first win is weight off the shoulders,” the first-year head coach said. “Now I worry about winning game number two. One is great, two will be better and 30 will be ideal.”

The Cougars will go for win number two today in the second day of the WNCC classic when they face Lamar Community College at 7 p.m. Colby (1-1) will play Little Big Horn College (0-1) in the opening game at 5 p.m.

Lamar (2-0) was a 95-66 winner over Little Big Horn College to open the Classic, and for the Cougars to pick up their second win, Jungers said they will need to play much better.

“I think we got their attention. The team understands that we didn’t play real well and we weren’t at the top of our game,” he said. “We need to improve defensively, some of the shots that we took were taken sometimes to quickly, and our inside guys need to be more of a presence.”

The thing that stood out was the Cougars’ 3-point shooting in the first half. WNCC shot a blistering 52 percent from beyond the arc, nailing three straight treys to open the game. Bridgeport’s Chance Wallesen did most of the damage from beyond the arc canning four treys for his 12 points.

“We are a good 3-point shooting team and we were living and dying by it [Friday],” Jungers said. “We can’t do that. We are going to have off nights. We shot 1 of 9 in the second half [from beyond the arc0.”

WNCC led 11-2 early on only to see Colby slice the lead to 23-19 on a T.J. Schmidt 3-pointer with six minutes to go. It was then the Cougars hit stride going on a 19-5 run for a 42-24 halftime lead.

Doradji Wilson started the scoring run with a 3-pointer from the left wing followed by a Wallesen down-towner from the right wing. WNCC continued sizzling the nets with three more bombs, two of wich from 6-foot-6 Matthew Akins and one from Erik Schmidt from the left corner.

Jungers said they played good defense in the first half, but wasn’t overly pleased with his team’s lack of movement, which allowed Colby to make 14 free throws in the first half. The Trojans finished the game 33-of-45 from the charity stripe.

WNCC’s dominating first half proved key in the second half. Colby outscored WNCC 45-37, but never could make a dent in the score to single digits. In fact, WNCC held a 77-55 lead with about two minutes to play before Colby made a late 14-2 run to close the final gap.

The Cougars had five players in double figures. Ricardo De Bem and CJ Hampton finished with 13 points each, followed by Wallesen and Smith with 12, and Maurice Wright with 10.

Jungers expects to get an even stiffer test tonight against Lamar, which canned 10 3-pointers in their win against Little Big Horn.

“I expect them to shoot the ball really well. They are athletic and I think their guard play and their perimeter shooting is better,” he said. “We had nervous guys out there. We will get better and tomorrow will be a new day and will improve and go get our second win.”

Little Big Horn (0-1) 34 32 — 66
Lamar C.C. (2-0) 61 34 — 95
LITTLE BIG HORN
Raymond Bullshows 4, Frank Yellowtail 10, Kevin Yazzie 6, Cameron McCormide 8, Darrell Morning 4, Bobby Takes Enemy 3, Isiah Stewart 4, Ellis Old Bull 14, Clint Fitzpatrick 9, Andy Roundtree 2, Robert Higs 2.
LAMAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Jermaine Harris 3, Devin Vandergeest 2, Darius Joseph 7, Roman Andrade 8, Ryan Pelton 2, Brandon Johnson 23, A.J. Green 3, Delvin Franklin 21, DeShawn Wolfe 16, Mike Boger 10.

Colby CC (1-1) 24 45 — 69
WNCC (1-0) 42 37 — 79
COLBY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Shedric Cole 6, A.J. Stephens 6, Jorge Canedo 13, T.J. Schmidt 10, Troy Smith 2, Camilo Londono 21, Mike Mosley 11.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Chance Wallesen 12, Maurice Wright 10, Erik Smith 12, Antonio Jones 5, Matthew Akins 6, Carl Buck 2, CJ Hampton 13, DaRon Kirkendoll 1, Doradji Wilson 5, Ricardo De Bem 13.