KYLE, S.D. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received good news early Tuesday when they found out they received votes in this week’s NJCAA men’s basketball poll. The Cougars followed that good news by hitting the road and came away with a huge 136-52 win over Oglala Lakota College behind a combined 50 points from Marko Kovacevic and Terrance Motley.
WNCC dominated action on Tuesday against an Oglala Lakota team that zoned the Cougars all night. And, because of the zone defense, the Cougars big men Kovacevic and Motley went off. Kovavevic finished with 30 points and nine rebounds while Motley had 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Cougars also had four other players finish with double-digit scoring. Brady Mason collected 18 points, while Du’Vaughn Maxwell and Raul Delgado each had 14 points. Tahir Little also had 10 points.
Mason, seeing his first action of the year, contributed two rebounds and six assists, while Maxwell had six rebounds and Delgado had two rebounds and six assists.
Alliance’s Mike Peltz contributed another consistent performance, finishing with eight points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.
WNCC head coach Russ Beck said his team is getting better each game.
“We had a nice practice yesterday [Monday] working on defense and free throws and I thought our defense is improving,” he said. “We are giving up less and less points each day, and we need to continue to get better.”
The Cougars connected on just one 3-pointer on Tuesday after finishing with 14 on Saturday. Sebastian Suarez had the only trey of the game on Tuesday. WNCC also had 35 assists in the contest.
WNCC, 5-0, will be back in action this weekend when they host the Cougar Classic. The Cougars will face Buckley Air Force Base on Friday before hosting undefeated Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah on Saturday. Both games are slated for a 7:30 p.m. start. McCook Community College, who has Travis and Trent Kuhn from Hay Springs, will also be at the WNCC Classic.
Both WNCC and Eastern Utah received votes in this week’s national poll and Beck said that if they can pick up two wins this weekend, they might have a chance to crack the Top 20. He said the College of Eastern Utah is a quality program that picked up three wins in Arizona this weekend.
The College of Eastern Utah defeated Central Arizona 77-74, Chander-Gilbert 80-64, and Eastern Arizona 78-74. Eastern Arizona and Central Arizona also received votes this week.
Beck said Saturday’s contest will be a battle, including a test for his squad.
“We are sitting just outside the Top 20 poll right now receiving votes and we need the community support this weekend,” Beck said. “With two more wins, we may crack the Top 20 for the first time in more than five years.”
WNCC 136
Oglala 52
WNCC
Tahir Little 10, Mike Peltz 8, Cal McCoy 2, Allen Beck 6, Brady Mason 18, Du’Vaughn Maxwell 14, Mason Smith 7, Raul Delgado 14, Sebastian Suarez 7, Marko Kovacevic 30, Terrance Motley 20.
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