There
is a lot on the line when the Western Nebraska Community College men’s and
women’s basketball teams host Northeastern Junior College in key sub-region
games today.
The Cougar
men, who are averaging 90.2 points a game and have hit the century mark for the
fourth time in five games, will entertain another ranked team. The Plainsmen
are ranked 23rd in last week’s poll.
Action
tips off at 5:30 with the women’s contest with the men’s contest to follow.
The
Plainsmen enter with a 14-2 record. The two squads have identical 3-2
sub-region marks.
WNCC
coach Russ Beck said this will be a classic WNCC and NJC showdown with the
potential of plenty of points scored.
“I
imagine it will be a high scoring game,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “he style
of play of both teams is very up tempo and it will come down to whoever plays
better defensively, gets more stops, and rebounds the ball.“
NJC,
after starting the season 12-0, dropped two of their last four. The Plainsmen
fell to Otero 83-78 and North Platte 69-60, while defeating McCook 103-93 and
then on Saturday, dropping Lamar 86-76.
The
Cougars are 3-2 in the sub-region with wins over Otero, Trinidad and McCook,
while suffering losses to Laramie County and North Platte. Both teams are
looking to stay among the top teams in the region with still hopes of capturing
the sub-region title and hosting the regional tournament.
“Both
teams are right there in the mix [of the conference race],” Beck said. “Coach
Trenkle always does a good job and he has a lot of sophomores on his team this
year. They try to put up a lot of points and get after it defensively. It will
be a classic NJC and Western Nebraska battle.”
The
Cougars have been playing well lately. WNCC is 5-2 since December and Beck
believes his team should be ready for tomorrow’s big game.
“I
think our guys are really focused and looking forward to the game,” he said. “The
two teams are very familiar with each other because we played in a lot of the
same classics and we went down to their jamboree. We just need to come out
focused. We sure have done a lot of growing up as a team. We still have a ways
to go, but I like the direction we are heading in and the personnel.”
WNCC
is coming off an impressive win over McCook on Saturday, where three players
finished with double-doubles and three players scored 25 or more points. Youssoupha
Kane and Brandon Morley led the way with double-doubles in points and
rebounding. Kane had 25 points and 19 rebounds, while Morley had 26 points and
16 boards. Tyler Crosbie also chipped in a double-double of 17 points and 10
assists.
Joel
Einfeldt was one of the hot hands on the night, finishing with 26 points,
including five 3-pointers and going 9 of 9 from the free throw line.
Beck
said his team just needs to play well. At this point in the season, every game
is crucial.
“I
just think every game at this point every game is a big game for us,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter they are one of the top teams in the sub-region or they lost
a few games, every game needs to be a big game mentality for us. “
The
women’s game should also be interesting as both NJC and WNCC need to keep pace
in the sub-region standings. Lamar leads the conference with a 2-0 mark. After
that, four teams have just one loss in sub-region play, including the Cougars.
NJC is right behind with a 1-2 mark.
NJC’s
last game out was on Saturday where Lamar topped the Plainswomen 102-93. WNCC
also won its last sub-region game, topping McCook on Saturday 77-47 with a
stellar defensive effort.
The
Cougar women have one of the best records in the region at 14-3 followed by
Western Wyoming at 16-4 and Dawson at 11-4.
After
Tuesday’s contest, the Cougar men and women will travel to Lamar Community
College on Saturday. The Lamar women are leading the sub-region standings,
where they have scored 100 points in four of their wins, including hitting the
century mark their last two times out. Lamar defeated Colby 114-97 in the win
on Jan. 8. WNCC also beat Colby twice, 68-45 and 86-29.
Men’s Region IX Standings
South Subregion
Team Conf. Overall
North Platte 6-0 14-0
McCook 4-2 12-5
Laramie County 4-2 13-6
WNCC 3-2 11-7
NE Colorado 3-2 14-2
Otero 3-3 13-5
Trinidad 1-4 8-9
EWC 0-5 8-8
Lamar 0-4 3-14
North Subregion
Gillette 5-0 16-2
Sheridan 4-1 16-3
Casper 4-1 11-6
Central Wyoming 3-2 9-8
Miles 2-3 9-9
Little Big Horn 1-3 9-9
Western Wyoming 1-4 7-11
Northwest Wyoming 1-4 11-7
Dawson 1-4 8-9
Women’s Region IX Standings
South Subregion
Lamar 2-0 7-7
Otero 3-1 10-6
Trinidad 2-1 10-6
WNCC 2-1 14-3
EWC 2-1 9-7
NE Colorado 1-2 7-8
McCook 0-6 2-16
North Subregion
Western Wyoming 4-1 15-4
Northwest Wyoming 4-1 13-6
Gillette 4-1 12-6
Dawson 3-2 11-4
Sheridan 2-3 12-7
Casper 2-3 10-7
Miles 2-3 11-7
Central Wyoming 1-4 7-9
Little Big Horn 0-4 7-10
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