Crosbie
finished with 17 points and 10 assists in the contest, but Crosbie was just one
of the players that lit up the arena from both squads. The two combined for 23
treys with WNCC connecting on 13, led by Diante Mitchell’s five 3-pointers.
The
All-stars connected on 10 3-pointers. Kyle Cotton and Julian Garcia each canned
four 3-pointers. Cotton, who coaches the Minatare boy’s basketball team,
finished with a game-high 26 points.
Joel
Einfeldt, who was one of three Cougars to finish with 19 points along with
Derrick Bowers and Brandon Morley, said it was good to just on the court before
their big contest against No. 6 North Platte Community College on Friday night.
“It
was good for us to play together after we got back from the break and get us
ready for the big games we have this weekend,” Einfeldt said. “I felt like we
accomplished some new things that we have been working on in practice and it
will get us ready for the weekend.”
More
importantly, though, Tuesday’s win was a team effort where all eight players
suited up contributed and nearly all eight finished in double figures. Einfeldt
said when they can distribute the ball with the accuracy they did in the game,
it makes the game that much more fun.
“It
is really fun to play with each other when we share the ball,” Einfeldt said. “It
is fun to play with Tyler and Diante with the way they share the ball and I
hope I can be more like them.”
Einfeldt,
who drilled four 3-pointers of their own, said this team is starting to find
their groove. The Cougars have now won four straight, including six of their
last seven games.
“We
like to shoot the threes,” he said. “We really don’t want to focus just on our
three-pointers, we want to focus on our defense and let that be our calling
card. We will also keep working on our outside shooting and hopefully that
works for us, too.”
Another
key that is driving this Cougar team is an inside-outside game that is becoming
hard to stop. Tuesday night, the Cougars shot 64 percent from the field,
connecting on 36 2-pointers, while shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc
(13-of-29).
“That
[inside-outside game] is hard to guard because other teams will have to focus
on our big guys in Julio, DouDou, Brandon, and Youssoupha, and if they focus in
on them that leaves us wide open for the three. Once we start hitting those
outside shots, it leaves them open, so it really hard to guard.”
Tuesday’s
contest wasn’t easy at the beginning as the All-stars held a 5-4 lead after a
3-pointer by Cotton and a bucket by Gill Trimbull. Mitchell changed the
momentum after hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and the Cougars raced to a 16-5
lead.
While
WNCC held the lead after that, the game stayed competitive as the All-stars
trailed 18-11 after a Cotton 3-pointer and later 30-16 on an Aaron Fabel
bucket. The All-stars later would go on a 6-0 run to trail 45-31 before
Einfeldt was fouled after making a 3-pointer and put in a 4-point play to help
WNCC to a 56-35 halftime lead.
WNCC
put the game away in the second half as they went on a 13-0 run to lead 75-41
behind six points from Morley.
Einfeldt
said this was a good game heading into Friday’s sub-region contest, especially
how this team has grown from the beginning of the season when they lost to
three other ranked teams.
“We
are a young team and early on in the season we were trying to figure ourselves
out,” he said. “We are not there yet, but we are coming along. We are ready to
take on anybody that comes into our gym and likewise going to their place. We
are excited for that.”
WNCC
also received 15 points from Mitchell and 10 from Youssoupha Kane to finish out
the six players in double figures.
The
YMCA All-stars put three players in double figures. After Cotton’s 26 points,
Julian Garcia poured in 14 points followed by Ryan Guzman with 10.
Friday’s
men’s home contest against No. 6 North Platte begins at 7:30 p.m. or following
the No. 15-ranked Cougar women’s contest against Northwest Kansas Technical
College. Friday is also free admission day at Cougar Palace.
YMCA All-stars 35
33 – 68
WNCC (10-6) 56
59 – 115
YMCA ALL-STARS
Chris Guzman 2, Rick Ayala 7, Julian Garcia 14, Ryan
Guzman 10, Kyle Cotton 26, Gil Trimbull 3, Brett Meyer 2, Ethan Ayala 4.
WNCC
Tyler Crosbie 17, Youssoupha Kane 10, Diante Mitchell 15,
DouDou Gueye 8, Joel Einfeldt 19, Derrick Bowers 19, Brandon Morley 19, Julio
Guity 8.
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