The Cougar men set the school record for most points in a game, most points in the first half and most points in the second half.
WNCC coach Russ Beck said that the focus on the team was to play strong the whole game, which they did for 40 minutes.
"At the beginning of the game we wanted to make sure we worked on getting better," he said. "We have to applaud them for their effort because those boys played hard the whole game. We just wanted to make sure we did some fundamental things and not get carried away with some of the opportunity to score. I told the guys that they needed to play hard throughout the game because when you start to let up and start to goof around, that is usually when people get hurt. We didn't want any injuries by either team. The boys continued to play hard and I think they were pleased with the outcome."
The Cougars' 161 points breaks a record that dated back to the 1963-64 season when the Cougar team of Scottsbluff College scored 130 points in a win against Northwest Wyoming. The other two records were points in a half. The Cougars' 82 first-half points bettered the record by 18, that was set in 1964, while the team's 79 second-half points was three higher then the 76 points that the team had in 2005 against Doane College junior varsity.
What really stood out about this contest is the Cougars played a solid 40 minutes because in games like this, the second half usually ends up being a turnover-plagued contest. That wasn't the case Saturday; WNCC played under control the entire game, committing just seven turnovers and shooting 70 percent from the field, including nine 3-pointers.
"Our players did a good job of sharing the ball. Justin Omogun ended up scoring 40 points, but he was the recipient of several extra passes," Beck said. Overall I was pleased how the team worked with each other no matter who we subbed in. We tried to sub every three to four minutes and made sure everyone played. I was happy that the team is starting to build a little bit of chemistry."
WNCC had eight players finish with double figures, and two players that had double-doubles. Freshman Justin Omogun led all scorers with 40 points and 12 rebounds. Omogun's 40 points is the third time someone scored 40 points since 2005. The previous two was Fernando Bonfim's 40 points in 2005 against North Platte, and Francisco Cruz's 41 points last year against Eastern Wyoming.
Also notching double-figures was freshman Marko Kovacevic with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Also getting double figure scoring was Preston Eaton and Joe Stock with 15 points each, Brady Mason with 14 points, Stephen Shepherd and Hauns Brereton with 12 points each, and Aaron Turner with 10 points.
What really stood out about the contest was how the team shared the ball. WNCC finished with a whopping 35 assists and had 26 steals. Eaton led the team with eight assists followed by Justin Standley with seven and Stock with five.
WNCC, 3-0, will be back in action Tuesday at Cougar Palace against Lamar Community College at 7:30 p.m. They will then host Oglala Lakota again on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Oglala Lakota 16 18 -- 34
WNCC (3-0) 82 79 -- 161
OGLALA LAKOTA
Byron Bear Robe 2, Cody Red WIng 15, Leroy Lame 12, Mark Buckman 5.
WNCC
Mike Peltz 2, Marcello Crivellente 4, Preston Eaton 15, Justin Standley 3, Joe Stock 15, Justin Omogun 40, Stephen Shepherd 12, Hauns Brereton 12, Raul Delgado 8, Brady Mason 14, Aamir Kelliehan 9, Miguel Gotti-Ramos 7, Aaron Turner 10, Marko Kovacevic 10.
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