WNCC men pick up 12th win of season over Casper

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received 24 points from Diante Mitchell and a big all-around contest from Tyler Crosbie in capturing their 12^th win of the season with a 95-87 win over Casper College on Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

                Crosbie, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half, helped ignite a Cougar team that literally controlled the pace of the contest for the final 30 minutes. Crosbie not only had 16 points, but pulled down eight rebounds and committed just two turnovers.

                Crosbie said this was a huge win against their rival from Casper.

                “This was a huge win. Coach has been telling us all year that there are a couple rivalries that many of us don’t understand because we are freshmen and Casper is one of those rivalries,” Crosbie said. “I thought all of us played amazing we came out and had great chemistry with each other and shared the ball, scored. Everything was on point tonight.”

                It was the Cougars intensity that played a key part in the win. Crosbie said this team seems to play better when the pace of the game is at a high speed.

                “We had a really good practice this week on Monday and that transferred over to today,” he said. “We were just ready to get after it. After losing a couple games that we thought we shouldn’t have, it is good to get a win.”

                A big key in the contest, though, was rebounding. WNCC out-rebounded the Thunderbirds 54-43. Brandon Morley pulled down 13 boards to go with his 10 points. Crosbie and Youssoupha Kane each had eight boards.

                Shooting was also a big factor. WNCC connected on 45 percent of their shots, including seven 3-pointers for 32 percent. Casper show 38 percent from the field, and connected on eight treys.

                Casper held an early lead at 16-9. It was then the Cougars went wild, going on a 12-0 run that was highlighted by plenty of gutsy play, including a drive by Jalen Griffiths and another drive by Crosbie for a 21-16 lead.

                WNCC kept playing on all cylinders as Crosbie and Joel Enifeldt treys. The big shot, though, came with three seconds in the half when Mitchell hit a 3-pointer and was fouled for a 4-point play to give the Cougars a 50-41 halftime lead.

                The second half was all Cougars as they never did relinquish the lead. In fact, the Cougars jumped out to a 58-43 lead early in the period. WNCC pushed the lead to 84-71 on a Derrick Bowers trey and a Mitchell bucket.

                That was when Casper made their run, slicing the lead to three, 84-81, but clutch free throws pushed the Cougars to their 12^th win of the season.

                WNCC had six players finish in double figure. Mitchell led all scorers with 24 points, followed by Einfeldt with 17, Crosbie with 16, Kane with 12, and Bowers and Morley with 10 points.

                Casper was led in scoring by George Edwards with 27 points as well as 19 rebounds. Daniel Nwosu also chipped in 24 points.

                WNCC (12-9) will be back in action Friday when they travel to Eastern Wyoming College.

                “That game is going to big,” Crosbie said. “We saw them sitting here watching us so we are going to be ready for them. We are going to give them everything we got. It will be a good game.”

Casper                  42 45 – 87

WNCC                   50 45 – 95

CASPER

Chase Riley 9, Jay Wright 19, Daniel Nwosu 24, George Edwards 27, Garrett Swanson 8.

WNCC

Tyler Crosbie 16, Preston Christensen 1, Youssoupha Kane 12, Diante Mitchell 24, DouDou Gueye 3, Joel Einfeldt 17, Julan Griffiths 2, Derrick Bowers 10, Brandon Morley 10.