Monday, January 20, 2014

WNCC men fall to NJC in heartbreaker at the buzzer



                Northeastern Junior College’s Odessa Lear scored 32 points and the No. 23-ranked Plainsmen breathed a sigh of relief after Western Nebraska Community College’s Diante Mitchell’s last-second tying three-pointer rimmed out to give NJC a heart-pounding 85-82 win Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace.
                The Cougars had five players finish with double figures, led by Tyler Crosbie and Youssoupha Kane each with 17 points. Kane finished with a double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds.
                The difference in the game was rebounding and free-throw shooting. The Plainsmen out-rebounded the Cougars 48-32, including getting 28 offensive boards.
                The Plainsmen also connected on 27 of 37 free throws compared to just 13 of 21 for WNCC. The other difference in the contest was 3-point shooting. NJC buried 10 treys to just seven for the Cougars. Lear finished with six 3-pointers, while WNCC was led by Crosbie and Joel Einfeldt with two each.
                The first half was 20 minutes of runs by both teams. WNCC jumped to a 12-4 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Crosbie and Brandon Morley. It was short lived as NJC took a 13-12 lead.
WNCC came back to lead 20-13. NJC got hot, going on a 14-0 run to lead 27-20 and later 38-23 on back-to-back treys from Lear. NJC went on to lead 44-34 at intermission.
                The second half saw the Plainsmen lead by 48-38 and later 53-46 on a bucket by Joe Uke with just four minutes gone. It was WNCC’s turn to get hot as the Cougars went on a 15-3 run to grab their first lead since early in the first half at 58-56 with 11 minutes to play. The run was highlighted by two Kane dunks and a driving bucket by Diante Mitchell to tie the game at 56.
                After WNCC took the lead on two free throws by Einfeldt, NJC regrouped and led 65-58 and later 69-60. The Plainsmen continued to keep the Cougars at bay, holding an 80-69 lead with 3:41 to play. The last three minutes of the contest belonged to the Cougars as they battled back, slicing the lead to one, 80-79 on a Mitchell 3-pointer with 1:14 to play.
                NJC’s Isiah Cooper came back to dunk home two points to push the lead back to 3-points. WNCC refused to fold as Kane had a tip in to cut the lead to cut the lead to 82-81. Lake Reed hit two free throws with 9.8 seconds to put NJC back up by three. Crosbie was then fouled and hit just one free throw with 2.8 seconds. NJC’s Joe Dellenbach then made just one of two free throws with 2.1 seconds and after a timeout, Mitchell had a good look at a NBA 3-pointer that just rimmed out as time expired.
                Besides Crosbie and Kane hitting for double figures, Einfeldt finished with 16 points, Morley had 14, and Mitchell had 12.
                WNCC (11-8) will next be in action Saturday when they travel to Lamar for another sub-region contest. The Cougars will then return home on Tuesday to face Casper College.

NE Colorado (15-2)          44 41 – 85
WNCC (11-8)                      34 48 – 82
NORTHEASTERN JUNIOR COLLEGE
Jamal Crocker 3, Odessa Lear 32, Duol Mayot 8, Isiah Cooper 4, Bronson Moton 4, Joe Dellenback 10, Jamal Peterson 8, Lake Reed 7, Joe Uke 9.
WNCC
Tyler Crosbie 17, Preston Christensen 1, Youssoupha Kane 17, Diante Mitchell 12, Joel Einfeldt 16, Derrick Bowers 5, Brandon Morley 14.

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