“We
were able to play a lot of guys in the game and for the most part we did a
pretty good job in substituting and not dropping off,” WNCC coach Russ Beck
said. “I didn’t like how we finished the game in taking care of the ball. We
turned the ball over umpteen times in a short time span. But it was an exciting
game. It was a fun game to play against EWC and Casey Jones does a good job
with his guys. Now we are just going to focus on Lamar on Friday.”
EWC
coach Casey Jones said he liked how his team fought and the energy level his
team had.
“We
only played that hard only three or four times all year and it is really
frustrating because this is a really good group of kids,” Jones said. “I told
them if we had this energy effort all year we would be in a lot better position
right know. This is just a home game where one team is kind of hot. They got up
on us a little bit.”
The
win snapped a 3-game losing skid for the Cougars and pushed them to 16-12
overall. Jones said for Eastern Wyoming, the loss tonight takes them out of the
running for post-season play.
“The
way it sits, the only way the upcoming subregion games would be big if we won
tonight,” Jones said. “Now we can’t make the tournament whatever we do. I just
told them that they are just games now. We need to go home and we have a lot of
pride as a program and we are going to and play hard. We don’t have to worry
about anything and just play. Unfortunately, it might be a lot easier situation
in just playing and let our home fans enjoy our effort and our intensity.”
The
Cougars trailed just once in the contest at 5-4. After that time, they would
move out to a 44-32 halftime lead. That halftime lead was highlighted from a
strong final five minutes of the half, where they outscored the Lancers 14-8.
“How
you start and finish halves is the key to getting a win,” Beck said. “That is
one thing we didn’t do against North Platte is finish against North Platte in
the last five minutes and that is when North Platte went on a 14-4 run and we
definitely turned it around tonight and a good end of the five minutes today
and it was nice to go into halftime with a little bit of a lead.”
The
second half saw the Cougars ignite on offense, running to a 60-39 lead behind
3-pointers by Joel Einfeldt and Tylor Crosbie. WNCC would lead by as much as 23
points, 75-52, early in the second half.
The
Cougars intensity kept going as they held a 20-point lead, 89-69 with just
under four minutes to play. That was when the Lancers picked up the steam and
sliced the lead to single digits at 95-88 on Kalil Potts three free throws with
a minute to play. During that same stretch, the Lancers outscored the Cougars
13-0.
WNCC,
however, hit six free throws in the final minute to get their 16th
win of the season.
The
Cougars outrebounded the Lancers 62-36, where Julio Guity led the way with 11
boards followed by nine from Youssoupha Kane.
WNCC
shot 45 percent from the field and connected on 19 of 23 free throws, compared
to 33 percent for the Lancers and 28 of 35 free throw shooting. The Lancers also
buried 10 3-pointers, four of which came from Jason McClellan.
WNCC
was led in scoring by Einfeldt with 19 points followed by Preston Christensen
with 16, Crosbie and Kane with 12 points and Derrick Bowers with 10.
EWC
had four in double figures. Potts led all scorers with 25 points followed
closely behind by Alex Padgett’s 22 points. McClellan chipped in 15 points,
while Mark Hall had 15.
WNCC
will be back in action Friday when they host Lamar Community College in their
final home contest of the season. The Cougars will then travel to face
Northeastern Junior College on Saturday in Sterling, Colo.
The
Lancers have three games left, when they host Northeastern Junior College on
Thursday, before hosting Lamar on Saturday. The Lancers will wrap up the season
on Monday when they host Casper College.
EWC (10-16) 32
58 – 90
WNCC (16-12) 44
57 – 101
EWC
Jason McClellan 15, Mark Hall 13, Kalil Potts 25,
Jonathan Doss 4, Alex Padgett 22, Jamon Jackson-Wilson 4, Tyler Crosbie 6,
Arthur Santanna 1.
WNCC
Tyler Crosbie 12, Preston Christensen 16, Youssoupha Kane
12, Diante Mitchell 7, DouDou Gueye 8, Joel Einfeldt 19, Jalen Griffiths 2,
Derrick Bowers 10, Brandon Morley 9, Julio Guity 6.
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