Cougar men's basketball team falls two points short against Northwest to end season

Cougar Palace went from cheers to tears in a heartbeat Monday night during the Men’s Region IX Tournament between Western Nebraska Community College and Northwest College.

The Cougars, down by five points with 14 seconds to play, nearly pulled off the comeback of the century.

It didn’t happen as the faces of Chance Wallesen and Carl Buck, who sat on the Cougar Palace floor with their heads down, told the story. WNCC fell in a gutsy comeback attempt to the Trappers 70-68.

Northwest lives another day to play No. 4 Northeastern Junior College at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Northeastern earned the berth with a 75-48 win over Miles Community College. The other semi-final has North Platte Community College facing Casper College at 5 p.m. North Platte defeated Sheridan College in overtime 79-75 while Casper withstood Lamar Community College 67-63.

“It was a great college basketball game and this is what the regional tournament is all about,” WNCC coach John Jungers said after the emotional loss. “Unfortunately, we don’t get to play anymore. That is going to be very difficult. My hats off to Northwest Wyoming, I think they have an excellent team.”

What makes the game even harder to swallow for the Cougars is their emotional comeback fell inches short. Jungers congratulated Northwest on the hard fought win, and he had nothing but praise to hand out to his players.

“You have to give credit to Northwest Wyoming, they played very well. They made all right adjustments,” he said. “I have never been prouder of these guys then I am right now. They showed tremendous character tonight. Ricardo’s willingness to play through his pain, and then Chance coming of the bench and knocking down a big shot; I am just very proud of their character and their performance. Never once did they quit.”

And, WNCC never quit despite Northwest’s torrid shooting from beyond the arc where they shot 48 percent and buried 13 3-pointers. The big shot for the Trappers came from Brett Sommerville, who buried an NBA 3-pointer with the shot clock running out. That shot, with 1:15 to play, put Northwest up by five, 70-65.

At that moment, the Cougars could have packed it in as several of the other Region IX teams in attendance, as well as some fans, headed for the doors. But, the Cougar players never lost sight of a comeback and kept battling.

WNCC’s never-give-up comeback attempt started with 39.6 seconds left as Carl Buck got a steal and then was fouled. Buck missed the front end of the one-and-one, but got the rebound and missed the putback.

The Cougars then started to foul, but with only three team fouls chalked up on their side, they had to make quick work to send the Trappers to the charity stripe. Finally, with 14.6 seconds to play, Northwest’s Milan Stanojevic went to the free throw line. Stanojevic, who made three 3-pointers on the night, missed the free throw and WNCC to the rebound.

Chance Wallesen, who just came off the bench, pulled up and hit a 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds cutting the deficit to 70-68. WNCC immediately called a timeout. On the insuing imbounds play, the Trappers through it down the court and the Cougars knocked it out of bounds giving the ball to Northwest under the Trappers basket,

WNCC’s defense was solid, causing Northwest to turn the ball over on a five second violation. The Cougars called timeout out to setup the final game-tying or winning play. Wallesen brought the ball up the court and his pass to an open Cougar in the paint was stolen as the shot clock went off singling the end of the Cougar’s season.

Northwest advances to the semi-finals by only giving up the lead twice in the game at 53-51 on a Matthew Akins offensive rebound, and 65-55 on a Ricardo De Bem bucket. But, it was the Trappers shooting, especially from the 3-point area that proved beneficial as Nate Miller nailed four treys and Stanojevic added three.

The Trappers also placed four players in double-figures. Miller and D0vydes Retkus each had 14 points, followed by Stanojevic with 13 and Sommerville with 10.

WNCC, though, was just as sizzling from the field shooting 43 percent from the field and the 3-point area. The Cougars buried nine 3-pointers, led by CJ Hampton with four, Erik Smith with three and Wallesen with two.

Hampton led the Cougars with 18. Other Cougars with double-digit nights included Akins with 16 and Smith with 13. Akins also had 12 rebounds.