A day after the Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College players and coaches stuffed themselves full of turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will be on the court today running off their Thanksgiving meal in the Thanksgiving Classic at Cougar Palace.
Action in the tournament begins at 1 p.m. today and Saturday with four games each day.
The Eastern Wyoming women begin the after Thanksgiving contest against Lamar Community College followed by the Western Wyoming Community College men against Buckley Air Force Base at 3 p.m.
The Cougars will then take centerstage with the WNCC women facing Pratt Community College at 5 p.m. followed by the Cougar men meeting their Highway 26 rivals from across the border Eastern Wyoming College men at 7 p.m. The tournament runs through Sunday, with four games on Saturday and one game on Sunday.
All four contests have interested tidbits to them to make for a festive occasion. WNCC coach Brian Joyce expects to see plenty of good basketball over the weekend.
“I think this will be a good tournament,” he said. “We play against Eastern Wyoming, Western Wyoming and Buckley Air Force Base. They all have different styles and it will be a challenging weekend.”
WNCC enters today’s contest at 6-2 after suffering it’s first two losses of the season last weekend at the Air Force tournament. The Cougars fell to Otero 68-65 and Garden City Community College 66-43 before defeating Air Force Prep 63-56 after trailing 29-26 at halftime.
Joyce said he was happy with how his team played Sunday to after suffering two defeats earlier in the tournament.
“I thought out guys showed a lot of character in bouncing back against Air Force Prep. That is a team that is hard to play in their style of play down there on the road,” he said. “I was pleased with how our guys responded. When you have as many new guys as we have and have five guys on the court that have not played college basketball, you will have some valleys as well as peaks, so hopefully we can learn from that and not have that happen in the future.”
In the win against Air Force Prep, the Cougars had three players in double figures led by Daniel Smith with 18 points. Deividas Busma finished with 12 points and Drew Eisinger had 11 points.
The Lancers, who opened the season with two wins at Cougar Palace, will be entering the Classic after suffering three losses at the Eureka Classic in Twin Falls, Idaho, last weekend. EWC fell to Riverside Community College 62-60, South Mountain College 79-71 and then to No. 2-ranked College of Southern Idaho 101-83.
Against CSI, Scotty McRae paced the team with 25 points followed by Casey Robinson with 17, including five 3-pointers. The Lancers opened the tournament with a heartbreaking loss to South Mountain after leading 49-29 at halftime to fall by four points. Robinson and Matt Pritchett led the team with 14 points each.
Joyce said his Cougar team has to be weary of a talented Lancer squad though.
“We have seen Eastern play three or four times and they play some good teams and I think they will be tough,” he said. “They have some good pieces on the outside and inside, so it will be important for us to execute the right way and do a good job against them.”
The Cougar women will also see a talented squad in Pratt Community College, even though they upheanded the Beavers earlier this year at the Colby Tournament. Pratt will be coming to WNCC with plenty of local flair as the Beavers are coached by former Gering High standout Brooke Schwartz. They also feature Sydney Moore, a Chadron High 3-sport athlete, who is in her freshman year at Pratt, Kan.
WNCC, though, will have the return of sophomore Chelsea Lyles this weekend for the 6-3 Cougar women. Lyles will suit up after helping the Cougar volleyball team to the national title on Saturday.
As for her basketball teammates, the are entering the home opener on a two-game winning streak after winning two games at the Air Force Prep tournament. The Cougars opened the last weekend at Colorado Springs, Colo., falling to the Air Force All-Stars 62-59, before rebounding with wins over Air Force Prep 75-52 and then Ft. Carson Army Base 76-49.
Other action today in the tournament features two schools that re-initiated women’s basketball this season with Lamar and Eastern Wyoming College at 1 p.m. The Lancers defeated Lamar Community College earlier this year on the road.
The 3 p.m. contest features Western Wyoming against Buckley in a contest that features former WNCC coach Trace Bevell in his first year as the head coach of the Mustangs out of Rock Springs, Wyo.
The rest of the tournament will feature action on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s schedule will see Pratt facing Lamar at 1 p.m., the Eastern Wyoming men meeting Buckley at 3 p.m., the WNCC and EWC women playing at 5 p.m. and the WNCC men taking on Western Wyoming at 7 p.m. Sunday’s lone contest will see the WNCC men facing Buckley at 2 p.m.
"We are trying to win every game. That is our goal,” Joyce said. “Every time we go out will do everything we can to win that game. I think when you play the right way and do the right things on both ends of the court; you will have a chance of winning your fair share of games. That is our focus and we will keep approaching it that way.”
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