WNCC men outscore McCook 119-106 for 11th win of the season

                The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team had three players register double-doubles and the Cougars won a shoot-out with McCook Community College in capturing their 11th win of the season with a 119-106 win Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                Youssooupha Kane, who had a double-double in the first half, finished with 25 points and 19 rebounds. Kane, however, wasn't the Cougars high scorer as Brandon Morley and Joel Einfeldt each had 26 points in the sub-region win.

                Morley also pulled down 16 rebounds, while Einfeldt connected on five 3-pointers. Tyler Crosbie also registered a double-double on the day, finishing with 17 points and 10 assists.

                Kane, who took a elbow to the face in the first half, said this was a game where they played well. Kane said they needed to play well to keep pace with a talented and hot-shooting McCook squad.

                "That was a pretty tough game today and we just picked it from [the North Platte game}," Kane said. "We got the game plan from coach and we just had to execute, knock down free throws, go aggressive on offensive rebounds, and do the things that we needed to do to get this win."

                McCook had four players in double figures in the game, including a double-double from Dominic Williams of 19 points and 14 rebounds. But it was the shooting early of Tony Dobbinson, who finished with a game-high 41 points, including 10 3-pointers.

                Saturday's win was much needed especially after the Cougars fell to North Platte Community College on Friday. Kane said they wanted this game to keep pace for a chance to win the south sub-region and host the regional tournament.

                Two areas that were crucial in the Cougars win was rebounding and free throw shooting. The Cougars converted 32 of 39 charity stripes compared to just 16 of 23 for McCook. Joel Einfeldt was a 9 of 9  from the charity stripe while Diante Mitchell was 9 of 10.

                WNCC also controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Indians 58-26. Kane was the biggest force on the glass, recording 11 offensive boards with many leading to easy tip ins for buckets. Kane said that he was ready to play and nothing was going to stop him, even a first-half elbow to the face that sent him to the sideline for observation.

                "That was huge because when you have two big guys like me and Brandon, we just needed to get the offensive rebound and put the ball back in the hoop," Kane said. "Me and Brandon had big games and we play for each other and that is a good friendship that

                Kane and the team never let how physical a game it was to deter them in their mission to get the win.

                "He just elbowed me in my face but I used my mentality to keep going hard. We just needed to go through anything out there and get the win," Kane said. "I really think my team played really  good today and they hit the free throws, hit the 3-point shot, and we just needed to execute as a team to get the win."

                WNCC controlled the pace of the contest in the first half, never trailing. The closest the Indians got in the opening 20 minutes was 8-6 after a Dobbinson trey. WNCC then cranked up the offense, going on a 14-5 run to lead 22-11. The majority of the scoring during that run came from Einfeldt and Mitchell who connected on a combined four 3-pointers. Einfeldt had three treys along.

                The Cougars led by as much as 20, 39-19, off a Derrick Bowers offence rebound. McCook, however, came back to cut the lead to 45-40 on a bucket by Williams before trailing at intermission 61-53.

                McCook started off the second half well, grabbing their first lead of the contest at 63-62 just three minutes into the second half.

                The Cougars bounced back as Morley had six straight points. WNCC pushed the lead to 13 points, 84-71, before McCook sliced the lead to six points, 97-91.

                That was as close as they got as Morley came back with a 3-pointer to put the Cougars into the century mark and after that they hit some clutch free throws to get the win 119-106. The Cougars were 15 of 17 from the free throw line int he final five minutes of the game.

                WNCC, 11-7, will be back in action Tuesday when they host Northeastern Junior College in another sub-region contest.

McCook               53 53 -- 106

WNCC                   61 58 -- 119

MCCOOK

Tony Dobbinson 41, Demetrius Woodley 4, Cody Wudtke 5, Marvin Wynn 13, LeMont Pruitt 15, Evan Drake 9, Dominic Williams 19, .

WNCC
Tyler Crosbie 17, Youssoupha Kane 25, Diante Mitchell 14, Joel Einfeldt 26, Derrick Bowers 9, Brandon Morley 26, Julio Guity 2.