NORFOLK -- The Western Nebraska Community College's Hauns Brereton and Joe Stock combined for 49 points and the Cougars men registered an 84-81 win over Gillette College in the opening round of the men's Region IX Tournament in Norfolk Saturday afternoon.
Brereton finished with 28 points, but it was Stock that had the hot hand, scoring 21 on five 3-pointers in leading the team into a quarterfinal match-up Sunday against Sheridan college a noon.
WNCC coach Russ Beck said his team came out in the second half and took control of the contest.
"We came out in the first five minutes of the second half against Gillette and went on a 10 or 11 run," Beck said. "I looked up at the score and we were four points down at half and we were up six or seven before they called that timeout. We came out and jumped on them."
A big reason was the play of Brereton, Stock and Raul Delgado. Also, the Cougar's second half shooting was sizzling.
"We played pretty decent in the first half, but we hurt ourselves from the free throw line in the first half, going 3-of-11," Beck said. "In the second half we started hitting our free throws and we blistered the nets from the 3-point line on 8 of 12 shooting. We were fortunate to get some key scoring from some guys. Joe Stock had a huge second half. He ended going 5 of 9 from the 3-point line half and finishing with 21 points. Hauns finished with 28 points and Raul played a really good ball game, too. We were making the extra pass and really moving it around. We were playing together." The Cougars jumped out to a 7-2 lead on five points from Brereton and a bucket by Delgado. Gillette came back to go up 34-26 and led 36-32 at intermission.
WNCC came out in the second half and took control of the game, going on a 15-7 run to go up 47-32 on a Brereton 3-pointer. WNCC stretched the lead to 51-43 on another Brereton bucket. WNCC kept excelling as they pushed the lead to their biggest margin of the game at 78-66 on a Aaron Turner 3-pointer.
Gillette came back, slicing the lead to two points at 78-76. WNCC then scored the next four points and held on for the 3-point win.
A big key for the Cougars was their defense. WNCC held one of the nation's top scorers Ryan Aaron to just 19 points, on 4 of 19 shooting. Aaron was 10 of 14 from the free throw line.
"He is a very dynamic player," Beck said of Aaron. "He is averaging 27 points and we held him seven under his average. We just didn't want to give him anything easy and he was four of 19 from from the field."
WNCC outshot the Pronghorns 48 to 43 percent. The Cougar men also connected on 11 3-pointers, eight of which came in the second half. Stock had five treys in the game, while Brereton, Delgado and Turner each connected on two.
The Cougars will know face Sheridan College in the next round, a team the Cougars lost to in November by two points at Cougar Palace. Beck said they have to play their game against a tough General team.
"Sheridan is a good team. We played them one time and they got us by two in a game that we had the lead most of the game and gave it up at the end," Beck said. "We are a better defensive team now then we were then. We have to contain Glover and Prosser, and guard them from the perimeter. We cannot give up any easy buckets."
Beck said this was a good win for his young team as they now know what it takes to win at the regional tournament.
"I think this team is hungry," he said. "We saw that the refs will let you play physical and that should be something that our team embraces. We will have to play physical and hardnosed and do all the little things against Sheridan."
Gillette (23-8) 36 45 -- 81
WNCC (18-13) 32 52 -- 84
GILLETTE
Reece. Maxwell 20, Patrick. Webb 2, Ryan Aaron 19, Matt Strickland 10, Kalen. Foreman 12, Matt. Dick 6, Nana Sapon-Amoah 1, Justin. Casey 7, Exekiel Odonker 4.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Brady Mason 2, Joe Stock 21, Hauns Brereton 28, Raul Delgado 16, Marko Kovacevic 2, Mike Peltz 5, Justin Standley 2, Aaron Turner 8.
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