WNCC falls to Mineral Area 81-77

OTTUMWA, Iowa -- The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team fell short in their contest with Mineral Area Community College Tuesday night at the Courtside Classic in Ottumwa, Iowa.

The Cougar men, 9-4, fell to the Park Hills, Mo., school 81-77 in the first day of the New Year's Eve tournament in a game that WNCC coach Russ Beck said they should have one. WNCC, after trailing 36-32 at halftime, held a 10-point lead with 10 minutes left in the contest.

" One of the frustrating things about our game tonight was we were up by 10 points with about 10 minutes to play and then we had a few turnovers and missed the front end of one-and-ones and when that happens, the lead evaporated pretty fast."

The Cougars had three players that were near the 20-point mark in the team's first game since Dec. 5. Francisco Cruz had 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Brylle Kamen and Geddes Robinson each pitched in 19 points.

The difference in the game was free throw shooting where the Cougars were 14 of 24 from the line.

"The problem was we missed free throws and we missed the front end of two one-and-ones late," Beck said. "The other thing that caused us troubles is that we missed six point-blank putbacks or lay-ups. I felt like we left 20 points on the floor."
The one thing that Beck was pleased about was the team committed just 11 turnovers against a team that pressed them the whole night. Beck also said that they did a good job on Mineral Area's leading scorer, who was averaging 17 points a game. He only had 12 points, including three at halftime.

MIneral Area held a 36-32 lead at intermission. The Cougars played the 13-2 Mineral Area team even in the second half as each team scored 45 points. It was the Cougars third straight defeat after running off nine consecutive wins.

The Cougars will have two more games in Ottumwa, Iowa, as they face Olive-Harvey College out of Chicago today at 3:30 p.m.. They then will face Indian Hills on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Beck expects a stiff test against Olive-Harvey, who was leading Indian Hills by 25 points at one time on Tuesday night.

"I watched them play Indian Hills tonight and they have a bunch of inter-city players from Chicago," he said. "They don't have a lot of size but they are really scrappy and play really hard. I expect them to come out and play tough against us tomorrow."

WNCC (9-4) 32 45 -- 77

Mineral Area (13-2) 36 45 -- 81

WNCC

Geoffrey Firmin 6, Saul Torres 1, O'Rion Hughes 5, Joe Stock 3, Francisco Cruz 22, Brylle Kamen 19, RItchie Mundende 2, Geddes Robinson 19.