Submitted by Jeremy Woznick, Star-Herald Sports
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team ran its winning streak to six in a row with a 75-69 win over Air Force Prep Friday in the Air Force Prep Tournament.
The Cougars are now 6-1 under Russ Beck, who is in his first season as WNCC's head coach.
"It was a good win for us," Beck said. "Air Force has a great team with good size. For us to get a win at their place is a credit to how well the guys played."
Francisco Cruz ignited for 25 points to pace the Cougars in scoring. Jasen Williams also provided plenty of offensive support by pouring in 19 points.
The Cougars were playing without sophomore Scott Bamforth for the second straight game. Bamforth dislocated his elbow in a game last Saturday and could miss an extended amount of time.
Also for WNCC on Friday, Geoffrey Firmin scored nine points and Geddes Robinson added seven. Brylie Kamen led the Cougars on the glass.
In addition to playing well on offense, Beck said his team received a strong defensive performance.
"Air Force runs a Princeton offense with a lot of screening and cutting. It can be very difficult to defend," Beck said. "The key for us was to get pressure on the ball and I thought we did that effectively."
The WNCC women weren't as fortunate Friday. The No. 8 Cougars suffered their first loss of the season to No. 4 Midland College (Texas) in a battle of nationally-ranked teams. WNCC fell 71-63 to drop to 5-1 on the season.
"We knew coming into the game that Midland would be our best test to date," WNCC assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said. "The effort was definitely there. The kids played hard. We gave up over 25 offensive rebounds and just didn't do the little things tonight."
Trailing by eight at the half, WNCC took a one-point lead in the second half and forged into a number of ties. However, the Cougars missed nine straight free throws at one stretch of the half and missed a couple of critical shots late in the game.
"We trailed by only four with two minutes left and missed two open shots," Pedersen said. "We executed our offense well and got good shots, but we just couldn't put the ball in the hole."
Thais Pinto led WNCC offensively in the contest with 18 points. The 6-foot-7 freshman from Brazil also totaled a team-high six blocks and grabbed five rebounds.
Amber Kistler and Stormye Everett each scored 10 points. Shelby Campbell knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to finish with nine points and Yuki Morimoto added seven.
Campbell collected a team-high five steals for WNCC. Everett led the Cougars with six rebounds and four assists.
"The last five games we played haven't been too hard, so the kids got used to things like not coming to the ball hard or not playing defense hard all the time. They were able to get away with things like that. They definitely couldn't get away with those things tonight," Pedersen said. "I think it was a good thing that they came out here against a team that plays hard all 40 minutes. We competed and played well with them. We just need to do a few of the little things better."
The WNCC women will look to get back on the winning track today. The Cougars will take on Air Force Prep at 11 a.m.
The WNCC men will next be in action at its Thanksgiving Classic Tournament next weekend in Scottsbluff.
WNCC men (6-1) 39 36 - 75
Air Force Prep 28 41 - 69
WNCC
Jasen Williams 19, Geoffrey Firmin 9, O'Rion Hughes 4, Francisco Cruz 25, Al-Akeem Watson 6, Brylie Kamen 5, Geddes Robinson
WNCC women (5-1) 26 37 - 63
Midland 34 37 - 71
WNCC
Amber Kistler 10, Stormye Everett 10, Shelby Campbell 9, Yuki Morimoto 7, Ariane Brown 4, Tiffany Moorer 1, Michelle Glaze 1, Thais Pinto 18, Khayla Gladney 3
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