Cougar men down McCook men

MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team
remained unbeaten in the East Sub-region with a hard-fought 62-60 win over McCook Community College Wednesday night.

The win pushes the Cougars to 4-0 in the sub-region and 8-11 overall. The winner of the East Sub-region will host the Region IX tournament in March.

WNCC coach John Jungers said his team showed character in playing in a tough environment.

“It is tough to beat anybody on the road, especially against a team that I thought played pretty well when they played at our place,” he said. “Then, to go down there two weeks later and have to play them again, that can be a trap game very easily.”

The Cougars held a 30-21 lead at halftime only to see McCook tie the game with nine minutes to play. Jungers said that his team played well when they needed to.

“I thought we played O.K. in stretches,” he said. “The thing I am most pleased about is that we showed some character on the road. Playing in a tough environment and playing a sub-region game, we showed some character and we hung in there.”

Jungers said that Doradji Wilson was the one of the reasons for the team’s win Wednesday night. The freshman from Chad scored eight points, all in the second half.

“Doradji Wilson did a great job,” he said. “He was patient, he rebounded and he was very good for us down the stretch. He stepped up big time.”

McCook’s second half comeback was due to timely 3-point shooting. The Indians were 6 of 13 from the arc in the second half. WNCC was just 3 of 17 for the game from the 3-point area.

WNCC, though, hung tough and collected the win behind balanced scoring. Only Matthew Akins finished with double-digit scoring, netting 14 for the game. Akins also pulled down eight rebounds.

Five other Cougars were on the brink of double-digits. CJ Hampton finished with nine points and seven rebounds, while Wilson, Ricardo De Bem, Erik Smith and Chance Wallesen all finished with eight points each.

Hampton contributed seven rebounds, while Beno Jaekel had six rebounds and five points.

WNCC will next be in action Saturday when they travel to Casper College for an 8 p.m. tip-off during the T-Birds Homecoming festivities. After that, the Cougars will host Eastern Wyoming College next Wednesday at 7 p.m.

WNCC (8-11) 30 32 – 62
McCook (9-13) 21 29 – 60
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Chance Wallesen 8, Erik Smith 8, Beno Jaekel 5, Matthew Akins 14, Carl Buck 2, CJ Hampton 9, Doradji Wilson 8, Ricardo De Bem 8.


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