The Cougar men put three players in double figures in picking up their second win of the season, led by Hauns Brereton with 17 points followed by Justin Omogun with 12 and Raul Delgado with 11.
WNCC will look to remain unbeaten on Saturday when they host Oglala Lakota College at 3 p.m. at Cougar Palace.
WNCC coach Russ Beck said they played inspired, especially in the first half.
“Considering the fact that Buckley Air Force Base got in a little bit of traffic coming out of Denver, getting here late and not having much time to warm up, we were really focused on coming out and starting the game with some intensity,” he said. “I felt like we did that. I feel like our guys are doing a good job when we substitute in not having a lot of drop off in terms of our intensity and level of play. We just have to sustain our defense, especially just playing smart. Sometimes we get a few stops that turn into transition points and then sometimes we get a little greedy the next time down the floor and try to gamble instead of trying to get a good defensive stop.”
WNCC vaulted to a 10-0 lead as Brereton had four points early on. Moments later, the Cougars’ Joe Stock nailed a 3-pointer and the Cougars played hard defensively, limiting the Buckley offense to just one shot on many occasions. The Cougars pushed the lead to 39-18 after 3-pointers by Stock and Preston Eaton, and went on for a 43-26 halftime lead.
The second half was somewhat shaking for the Cougars as they intensity was down a little bit. Buckley outscored the Cougars 42-41 and at one time cut a 52-30 deficit to just 12 points as the Air Force base went on a 10-0 run led by James Lewis with two buckets.
WNCC came back to open up a 60-42 lead on four points from Omogun. WNCC slammed the door on the comeback as Raul Delgado and Omogun had two thundering dunks and Justin Standley nailed a 3-pointer to help the Cougars to their second win of the season.
WNCC saw 11 different players score, and that was something that impressed Beck.
“From night to night, we might have a different leading scorer,” he said. “Hauns Brereton did a great job tonight with 17 points and eight rebounds. Hauns will be one of the most consistent guys for us throughout the year. He is very versatile as a 6-6 wing player. He can knock down a three, attack the rim, and get to the free throw line. Omogun had a good game tonight with 12 points. But, on other nights, you might see Justin Standley or Preston Eaton or Mike Peltz really step up and provide us with some scoring as well. Raul Delgado even did a really good job attacking the rim and rejuvenated us in the second half with a few of his plays and big-time dunks.”
Brereton paced the team with 17 points, while Omogun had 12 points and four rebounds. Delgado finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Also for the Cougars, Aamir Kellhan had nine points, four rebounds, and four assists; and Stock had nine points with three 3-pointers.
The Cougars, who are in a midst of a five-game home stretch, will hope to keep improving through the November schedule.
“We are green and we are growing,” Beck said. “We just want to get ripe sometime in February. We still have a few things to work on.”
Buckley 26 42 – 68
WNCC (2-0) 43 41 – 84
BUCKLEY
James Lewis 8, Arlington Bradley 8, Brandon Wyatt 2, Josh Chadoct 16, Reggie Slaton 4, Jarroe Jemison 7, Rafeal Hendricks 4, Robert Dixon 19.
WNCC
Mike Peltz 5, Preston Eaton 5, Justin Standley 3, Joe Stock 9, Juston Omogun 12, Stephen Shepherd 8, Hauns Brereton 17, Raul Delgado 11, Miguel Gotti-Ramos 2, Marko Kovacevic 3.
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