WNCC men knock Otero in first subregion win

                 The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team lead start to finish and captured its first subregion win in dropping Otero Junior College 75-65 Friday night at Cougar Palace.

                Four Cougars finished in double figures in the contest as WNCC sizzled the nets for 44 percent shooting while holding a dangerous Rattler team to 32 percent shooting, including a 7 of 33 shooting from beyond the arc.

                The win was huge in subregion standings as the winner of the South subregion will host the Region IX tournament in March, and with a revamped subregion lineup, this win will go a long ways in helping the Cougars achieve that goal.

                The Cougars will have another sub-region contest this afternoon at 3 p.m. when they face Trinidad State Junior College.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck said this win puts them in control of their own destiny in achieving that goal of hosting regionals.

                “We have to turn our focus to tomorrow’s [Saturday afternoon] game because this game will not mean anything to us if we have a letdown tomorrow,” Beck said. “Right now we are in a position that we control our own destiny. Nobody has to win or lose for us to be in a position to host the tournament. We just want to take it game by game focus. We want this tournament to be here because the fans are so great.”

                The Cougars accomplished the win by coming out ready to play. Beck said it is not too often that you see a team lead from start to finish without any lead changes or ties.

                “When I look down at the stats and it says zero lead changes, I like that,” he said. “Give credit to our guys, they came out with a good focus. We were really in attack mode early on. There were a couple times in the game we allowed them to claw back, maybe late when we were sitting the ball a little bit too much. But, from start to finish, I am pretty pleased with the game.”

                WNCC bolted to a quick 10-0 lead behind six points from Marko Kovacevic. Otero, however, came storming back to slice the lead to two points on two occasions, including 14-12 on a Lathan Lieb bucket. The Cougars then went on an 8-0 run behind a 3-pointer by Raul Delgado. WNCC led 26-14 late in the first half before Otero went on an 8-0 run to trail at halftime 26-22.

                The second half was a battle as Otero sliced the lead to two points at 36-34. That was when the Cougars shifted gears and started to put on a dunking exhibition that was started by dunk by Du’Vaughn Maxwell to put WNCC up 45-36.

                The highlight real continued as Maxwell and Delgado electrified the crowd. It all started with Maxwell bringing the ball up the court with a behind the back dribble and then as he was driving to the hole, he sent a behind the back pass to Delgado for the bucket and foul. The play sent the crowd and the Cougar bench in a frenzy. WNCC later pushed the lead to 62-47 on back-to-back Sebastian Suarez 3-pointers.

                Otero didn’t quit as they cut the lead to 69-63 on a Brandon Harris 3-pointer with 1:15 to play. That was as close as they would get as  Mike Peltz hit two free throws with 21.1 seconds left and then Delgado slammed home a dunk late for the 75-65 win.

                Beck said that that razzle-dazzle play helped energize a good crowd that was on hand on the night.

                “The crowd has gotten better and better and better as the year as got along and we want to tell the crowd thank you and continue to support us,” Beck said. “We feel we have a good bunch that can put on a show at times. As our defense gets better, we will be able to get it out on the fast break offense.”

                WNCC had four players finish in double figures, led by Delgado with 17 points, including going 8 of 11 from the free throw line. Kovacevic finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Suarez ahd 11 points and Mason Smith netting 10 points.

                Terrance Motley finished the contest with 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Peltz had seven rebounds and four assists.

Otero (14-1)                       22 43 – 65

WNCC (13-3)                      26 49 – 75

OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE

Perryonte Smith 8, Wes McKenzie 16, Lucas Archuleta 3, Brandon Harris 20, Dylan Fritsch 3, Lathan Lieb 2, Adam Link 4, Oscar Garcia 3, Chris Strong 6.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Tahir Little 2, Mike Peltz 4, Du-Vaughn Maxwell 9, Mason Smith 10, Raul Delgado 17, Sebastian Suarez 11, Marko Kovacevic 14, Terrance Motley 8.