WNCC men fall short against No. 25 Sheridan College

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team gave the No. 25-ranked Sheridan Generals all they wanted Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

                In the end, though, the Generals late charge was enough to stop the Cougars’ upset bid, claiming an 86-84 victory. The loss was the Cougars third straight, and fourth straight at home.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck said his team made a strong comeback and just came up on the short end.

                “We started out better in the game and that was our main focus in the first five minutes of the game, so it was neck to neck. We let them get a little bit of a separation their in the middle part of the first half. But, we did battle back. It seemed that we got a little tired. They beat us on a few hustle plays to end the half, which was very frustrating. I thought we came out in the second half and had good fire, good energy, and we were attacking the hoop. We just came up a little bit short.”

                The Cougars trailed 49-43 at halftime as the Generals scored four points late points to take the 6-point lead.

                WNCC came out in the second half with a different mentality and, behind the play of guard Aamir Kelliehan, the Cougars took their first lead of the contest at 57-56 with 14:57 left in the game. Kelliehan scored seven straight points to help WNCC grab a 60-56 lead, including a driving dunk.

                WNCC kept excelling on all cylinders as they held a 66-61 lead on a Justin Omogun dunk and then was up 68-63 on a Raul Delgado bucket. Sheridan made a drastic charge, scoring the next six points to regain the lead at 69-68 on a Rolands Narkis 3-pointer.

                The lead changed hands a couple times until Sheridan’s Lamong Prosser, the 6-foot-7, 240 pound freshman took matters in his own hands, scoring six straight points for an 84-78 lead. Prosser finished the contest with 17 points to lead the Generals.

                WNCC battled back as Kelliehan made two free throws followed by a bucket by Kovacevic. Kelliehan sliced the Sheridan lead to one, 85-84 with 39 seconds to play. The Generals ran the clock down before Kendrick Morse made 1 of 2 free throws with 12.2 seconds to play. WNCC had a chance to tie the game, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with five seconds to play to end the dramatic comeback attempt.

                “It never comes down to a free throw at the end of the game because we had other opportunities to win the game,” Beck said. “We had 19 turnovers in the game. We are a young team, but we have to cut that down.”

                WNCC had plenty of bright spots in the contest, including out rebounding the Generals 26-25 and shot a blistering 89 percent from the free throw line compared to 61 percent for Sheridan. The Cougars also shot 63 percent from the field, but were just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc. Sheridan, on the other hand, was 6 of 19 from the long-range arc.

                Beck said they couldn’t find an answer for Prosser, who played the last five minutes with four personal fouls.

                “We played a little bit better and defensively we made some adjustments,” he said. “No. 44 [Prosser] is a load for Sheridan. He is a good. We had a hard time getting stops when he touched the ball down the stretch.”

                WNCC had five players finish with double figures. Omogun led all scorers with 21 points followed by Kelliehan with 17, Hauns Brereton with 12, Justin Standley with 11, and Kovacevic with 10.

                WNCC will finish out the first semester this weekend when they compete in the Central Wyoming Classic where they will face Salt Lake Community College and Central Wyoming College.

                “When I looked at the schedule, I knew that starting with the CSi game through the Salt Lake and Central Wyoming game that it was going to be a killer road. But it is like we are on the bench press; we are throwing a lot of weight on there right now and trying to get stronger.”

Sheridan (8-0)                   49 37 – 86

WNCC (8-4)                        43 41 – 84

SHERIDAN

Khion Sankey 16, Omar McDade 12, Kendrick Morse 5, Max Glover 10, Jermaine Lippert 6, Rolands Narkis 8, Jarrell Crayton 12, Lamont Prosser 17.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Mike Peltz, 7, Preston Eaton 2, Justin Standley 11, Hauns Brereton 12, Raul Delgado 4, Aamir Kelliehan 17, Marko Kovacevic 10, Justin Standley 21.