WNCC men fall to Williston State in first day of Thanksgiving Classic

Williston State College didn’t have any ill effects from a 10-hour bus trip Thursday. In fact, the Tetons blistered the net for 52 percent and lead from start to finish in handing the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team their second straight home defeat 94-79 Thursday night in the first day of the Thanksgiving Classic at Cougar Palace.
                The Tetons wasted little time in taking control, zipping out to an 8-0 lead to start the game on 3-pointers by Blake Nash and Derik Hawkey. WNCC coach Russ beck said that quick start by the Tetons set the tone for the rest of the game.
                “We lost this game in the first 10 minutes of the game,” Beck said. “Hauns was 0-for-6 in the first half, and a lot of the shots we were taking were not going from the inside out. We probably touched the post just two times in the first half. When we were able to make our run [in the second half] we were able to throw the ball into the post and work inside out and we were pretty effective when we did that. Unfortunately we had some calls that got our big people that we could throw it in to into foul trouble and had to bring them back out of the game. That is when their lead started to grow again. It hurt us when Marko and Justin had to come out of the game. We need to be a little bit more disciplined and not put ourselves in position to get in foul trouble.”
                Beck gives Williston a lot of credit in getting the win.
                “Give them credit, they came in and played hard. They drove 10 hours today and got off the bus and came in and kicked our tail.”
                The Cougars, after that initial 8-0 run by Williston State, did come back slicing the lead to two points on several occasions in the opening half. WNCC trailed just 20-16 after a technical foul shot. The Tetons, however, bounced back going on a 10-0 run to up the score to 30-16 and pushed the lead to 41-28 at intermission.
                The Cougars started their comeback in the first minutes of the second half. WNCC went on an 8-0 run behind five points by Justin Omogun and a 3-pointer by Joe Stock. The Cougars gut the deficit to a single point, 49-48 on a Hauns Brereton 3-pointer and later two free throws.
                The inside play of Omogun and Marko Kovacevic kept dominating as Omogun had another bucket and then Kovacevic slammed home a dunk to cut the lead to 54-52. After a 3-pointer by Nash, the Tetons started widen the lead once again, going on a 12-1 run to take a 69-53 lead.
                WNCC kept fighting, even in foul trouble, slicing the lead to 80-69 on a 8-2 run. Williston State kept the Cougars at bay as they connected on 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to hand the Cougars their second defeat of the season.
                Beck said his team didn’t have that same killer instinct they had over the weekend or even the Central Wyoming loss on Nov. 16.
                “I didn’t feel this was a game similar to the Central Wyoming game because we didn’t play all that physical,” he said. “We didn’t get on the floor for a loose ball until 15 minutes into the game and we didn’t do a good job boxing out.”
                Williston State had four players in double figures, led by Nash with 32 points, including four 3-pointers. The Tetons also out-rebounded the Cougars 47-28, as well as converting 28 of 43 free throws to WNCC’s 14 of 26 free throw shooting.
                Beck said Williston State is a good ball club.
                “They have a good coach. They have good players. They have a good point guard,” he said. “They have all the pieces, but I guess we are trying to discover which team we are, the team that beat CSI or the team that doesn’t play with a whole lot of energy.”
                WNCC had four players finish in double figures, paced by Justin Standley with 17 points. Also hitting the double-digit column was Brereton with 14 points, Omogun with 12 points (all in the second half), and Stock with 10.
                WNCC will look to rebound Saturday when they face a 9-1 Indian Hills team that got by Eastern Wyoming College 68-62 in the early game.
                “That will be a big game and we will see if we can bounce back and get after it a little bit,” Beck said. “Indian Hills has a great coach, great ball club, great program, and we have our work cut out for us.”
                The Thanksgiving Classic continues Friday with three games. The Eastern Wyoming women will face Oglala Lakota College at 3 p.m. followed by the Indian Hills and Williston State men at 5 p.m. The WNCC Lady Cougars will finish off the day at 7 p.m. by taking on Williston State. Action on Saturday begins at 1 p.m. with four games. Saturday’s festivities include the a bounce house for the youngsters during the 5 and 7 p.m. games.

Williston State                  41 53 – 94
WNCC (8-2)                        28 51 – 79
WILLISTON STATE
Perry Thaddeus 11, Derik Hawkey 4, Marc Price 1, Nick Markovich 13, Blake Nash 32, Derek Detrick 15, Terrance Motley 8, Pierre Nakada 5, Moriba Defreitas 6.
WNCC
Hauns Brereton 14, Raul Delgado 3, Aamir Kelliehan 4, Marko Kovacevic 4, Brady Mason 1, Justin Omogun 12, Mike Peltz 6, Justin Standley 17, Joe Stock 10, Aaron Turner 8.