Delgado, Suarez combine on 10 3-pointers in win over Trinidad State

                Raul Delgado and Sebastian Suarez combined for 10 3-pointers and 48 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team went 2-0 in the South Subregion with an 107-86 win over Trinidad State Junior College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

               Delgado and Suarez each finished with five 3-pointers and the Cougars connected on 67 percent of their shots, including 12 of 19 shooting from beyond the arc. Suarez paced all scorers with 25 points, while Delgado pitched in 23 points.

               "We wanted to get both these games at home and now the challenge is for us to go and get two wins on the road," WNCC coach Russ Beck said. "You know, good teams win at home and great teams, championship caliber teams, win on the road. So, we are trying to focus on Northeast Nebraska and McCook next weekend."

               Saturday's contest was another performance that the Cougars excelled on both ends of the court. But, itwasn't until the second half that the Cougars started to open up the contest and it didn't take much motivation for WNCC to pick up the intensity.

               "The boys had a lot of motivation in the second half," Beck said. "That hard foul on Raul when he hit the floor was the critical junction for us. i walked into the locker room and I said do I need to motivate you or is that motivation enough for you to come out and play hard the second half. We talked about a few adjustments that we wanted to make and we came out and played hard. We really wanted this win."

               The Cougars led 51-39 at halftime, but it was the final play of the half that pushed the Cougars intensity to a new level after Delgado was sent to the floor after a hard foul. Delgado managed to get up and sank two free throws, but the play was enough to awaken the Cougars.

               Trinidad State scored the first point of the second half on a free throw, but after that, WNCC went on a 10-0 run that was highlighted by six points from Marko Kovacevic and a 3-pointer from Mason Smith for a 61-40 lead. Moments later, Du'Vaughn Maxwell put up another highlight as he made a behind his head pass to Kovacevic. That pass and dunk started another 9-0 run that saw the Cougars go up 73-49.

               Trinidad cut the lead to 85-69, but that was when the Cougars went on a 18-4 run that saw Suarez nail three 3-pointers and Maxwell slam home two electrifying dunks for a 103-73 lead.

               What pleased Beck the most about the win was the balanced scoring and the way they shared the ball. WNCC finished with 27 assists, led by Mike Peltz with 11.

               "It was great to see the confidence that Sebastian Suarez and Raul Delgado are shooting the ball," Beck said. "We also had pretty balanced scoring with 25, 23, 19 and 10 points. The key stat of the night is that we had 27 assists and only 11 turnovrs. We are really being unselfish in finding the open man and shooting when we need to."

               Besides the 48 points from Suarez and Delgado, Kovacevic  had 19 points and six rebounds, while Terrance Motley finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Maxwell also finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists, while Peltz and Tahir Little each had seven points.

               WNCC, 14-3, will look to go 4-0 in the subregion with road contests this weekend at Northeast Community College and McCook Community College.

               "This is a long road trip and the last two years we have gone to Northeast Nebraska and lost by one point at the buzzer. The first year for me was a tip in after I left our best rebounder at home because he was late to the bus. The second year we had a shot at the buzzer and missed. If we work hard enough we are hoping to get a win. Then McCook is always a tough place to play because it is so closed in. They will play hard and I was impressed with their team when they played against CEU, so we have a tremendous challenge for us to go out and get two wins on the road."

Trinidad (5-10)                   39 47 -- 86

WNCC (14-3)                     51 56 -- 107

TRINIDAD
Phil Watts 8, J'My Holloway 13, McArthur Gaines 2, Devonte Malcolm 22, Bryant Evans 20, Tyrell Williams 2, Juhreece Thompson 9, Devonte Upson 8, Terrence Smith 6.

WNCC
Tahir Little 7, Mike Peltz 7, Du-Vaughn Maxwell 9, Mason Smith 5, Raul Delgado 23, Sebastian Suarez 25, Marko Kovacevic 19, Terrance Motley 10, Marcus Johnson 2.