WNCC men take down North Platte 66-63

Defensive stops is what Western Nebraska Community College first-year coach Brian Joyce preaches to his players, and on President’s Day evening, the Cougars put together a 2-minute defensive stand at the end of the game to knock off North Platte Community College 66-63 at Cougar Palace.

“I thought our defense was much better down the stretch then it has been in other games,” Joyce said. “Sometimes you are not going to make shots and you just have to make stops. And this game was about getting stops at the end.

“We got stops time after time for a four minute span, where we didn’t have scores on either end. I think our guys hung in there. That is what we work on in practice and it was a good confidence builder for our guys defensively.

The win was the Cougar’s 15^th on the season and puts the Cougars 4-2 in sub-region play, giving them the No. 2 seed in next months’ Region IX tournament. North Platte drops to 19-8 on the year and 5-1 in the East sub-region. While WNCC couldn’t garner the No. 1 seed no matter the outcome, the Cougars win avenges a sub-region loss to the Knights from earlier in the season, 87-72.

“I thought this game was different from earlier in the year when teams would go on a run and then we would start to take quicker shots, stop moving the ball, and stop playing together,” Joyce said. “Tonight we hung in there, being solid and putting ourselves in a position to stay in the game. Eventually it comes down to the end of the game about getting stops and we were fortunate to do that.”

The Cougars found themselves behind the eight-ball on several occasions on the night. In the first half, the Knights forged out to a 7-point lead on back-to-back buckets by Eugene Parker, 34-27.

WNCC didn’t fold as they clawed their way back into the contest, going on a 10-4 run to trail 38-37 at intermission.

North Platte came out of the locker room with back-to-back buckets by Eugene Bain, including an in-your-face-dunk to put the Knights up 42-37.

The Cougars settled down taking the lead at 17:31 on a Drew Eisinger bucket. Seconds later Drew’s brother, Jamie, nailed a fade-away jumper to put WNCC up 45-42. Both teams kept battling like two boxers as each time the Cougars got up by four points, the Knights came back, tying the game three times. In fact, there were seven ties and six lead changes throughout the game.

North Platte’s Bain tied the game for the last time at 59 with two minutes to play. WNCC came right back and worked the ball to an wide open Kelvin Franklin in the left corner for his third trey of the game to put WNCC up 62-59.

After a North Platte bucket off an offensive rebound, WNCC came back to salt the game away. First Deividus Busma was fouled on an offensive rebound with 52.3 seconds to play. Busma nailed one of two free throws.

The Cougars got a big stop on defense and Franklin drove the lane with 26 seconds to play to put WNCC up 65-61. The Knights then missed a 3-pointer and Drew Eisinger hauled in the rebound and was fouled with 13.5 seconds. Eisinger made one of two free throws before Bain nailed a shot at the buzzer to close the contest to within three.

The two teams were fairly even on the night as North Platte shot 41 percent from the field compared to 45 percent for WNCC. Both teams also nailed four 3-pointers. WNCC did out-rebound the Knights 39-33 as Busma hauled in 10 boards. Bain had 12 boards for the Knights.

WNCC had just two players in double figures. Franklin led the way with 17 points followed by Chris Hamblin with 12.

North Platte had four players in double figures. Bain led the way with a double-double, collecting 19 points and 12 rebounds. Joseph Odugbela followed with 17 points with Parker and Andrew Hanson finishing with 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Cougars will have little time to enjoy the win as they host Northeastern Junior College on Wednesday night in a men’s and women’s doubleheader. The night will also be special as members of the Denver Bronco cheerleaders will be attendance performing at halftime

Joyce said his team will be ready to face his old college.

“I think our guys are excited about it. It will be a great atmosphere here and the people will be fired up,” he said. “I know our guys will be. Hopefully we can continue and get some momentum going into the next few games. We will have to play a lot better and have everybody on the same page. As long as we have every body on the same page, we will be fine.”

North Platte (19-8) 38 25 – 63
WNCC (15-12) 37 29 – 66
NORTH PLATTE
Eugene Parker 12, Andrew Hanson 11, Quinton Spivey 4, Joseph Odugbela 15, Eugene Bain 19.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Jamie Eisinger 4, Daniel Smith 8, Kelvin Franklin 17, Lloyd Hickinson 4, Drew Eisinger 9, Deividas Busma 9, Chris Hamblin 12, Doradji Wilson 3.