WNCC men fall to Northeast Nebraska

   Northeast Community College’s Zach Towle lit up the nets from downtown, connecting on six 3-pointers in leading the Hawks to a 84-66 sub-region over Western Nebraska Community College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
                The Hawks totaled 10 3-pointers for the game and sizzled the nets for 49 percent shooting in getting the East Sub-region win. WNCC led just once in the contest at 7-5 on a Mike Peltz bucket, but other than that, the Hawks dictated the tempo of the game with a balanced inside and outside game.
                After WNCC took the lead on Peltz’ steal early in the first half, the Hawks came right back as Towle nailed a 3-pointer. The sophomore from Maplewood, Minn., finished with four 3-pointers and 14 points in the first half.
                WNCC fought back, slicing the lead to a single digit, 15-14, on a Juston Omogun bucket with 11 minutes left in the opening frame. Northeast, however, vaulted back in front with a 10-0 run at 35-14. The Cougars did mount a late first-half comeback, slicing the lead to three points, 32-29 on a Stephen Shepherd bucket, but another 8-0 run opened the lead for the Hawks. Northeast led 40-32 at intermission.
                Northeast flexed it’s muscles in the early part of the second half, vaulting to a 51-35 lead on a 3-pointer by Towle and Brad Peiper. The Hawks kept excelling as they went up 61-41 with 12:30 to play on a bucket by Tony Lauters.
                WNCC didn’t give up as they shifted things into another gear, going on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to single digits, 54-63 with over eight minutes left in the game. The run was highlighted by back-to-back buckets by Preston Eaton and four points each by Shepherd and Raul Delgado.
                Northeast’s Jayvin Reynolds stopped the run with a bucket and the Hawks went on another 10-0 run, capped by Towle’s sixth trey of the game, for a 73-54 lead with five minutes left. WNCC never could recover from that run, as they dropped the sub-region contest.
                WNCC had three players finish with double figures, led by Hauns Brereton with 19 points. Delgado and Joe Stock each chipped in 10 points.
                Northeast was led by Towle’s 20 points, while Cameron Adderly had 13 points.
                The Cougars, 9-10, will look to stop their four-game slide Tuesday night against McCook Community College at Cougar Palace. McCook is 1-0 in sub-region play after shooting past North Platte Community 129-104 on Thursday.

Northeast (12-7)              40 44 – 84
WNCC (9-10)                      32 34 – 66
NORTHEAST
Preston Williams 1, Brad Peiper 6,Tony Lauters 2, Lakheem Trotter 8, Zach Towle 20, Cameron Adderly 13, Dol Kutey 6, Jayvin Renolds 11, Nick Mabbutt 9, Cody Pinder 8.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Mike Peltz 2, Preston Eaton 5, Joe Stock 10, Justin Omogun 9, Stephen Shepherd 9, Hauns Brereton 19, Raul Delgado 10, Aamir Kelliehan 2.