WNCC men defeat Buckley in final day of Thanksgiving Classic

It took some time for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team to get warmed up Sunday in the final day of the Thanksgiving Classic. But when they did, the Cougars stopped a 2-game losing skid with an impressive 116-67 win over Buckley Air Force Base.

WNCC coach Brian Joyce said this is a good game to gain some confidence after suffering losses to Eastern Wyoming College and Western Wyoming Community College in the first two days of the Thanksgiving Classic.

“I thought this was a collective group effort. This was a game where everyone gets to play and it helps them gain some confidence,” Joyce said. “But it is a dangerous game because you allow them to stay close and it is difficult to stay in there and stay focused.”

Six players registered double figure scoring in the Cougar’s seventh win of the season. And, a day after Tearon Hill scored 29 points in the Western Wyoming loss on Saturday, Hill continued his torrid scoring spree with 21 points on Sunday, including 9 or 15 shooting and several dunks.

But, Hill wasn’t the only Cougar player to sparkle. Deividas Busma finished with 19 points, including 5 of 6 shooting from the charity stripe. Also, Drew Eisinger finished with 16 points including four 3-points, Doradji Wilson finished with 12 points, and 10 points each from Jamie Eisinger and Lloyd Hickinson.

Joyce said this win should help lift the spirits of the team.

“I think our confidence is down some, but I told our guys I haven’t changed in terms of my opinion of us being a good team, I just don’t know when it will be,” he said. “It will take some time to grow and we will have some growing pains. We just have to be patient and work through it. But the only way you work through adverse situations is to play hard and we need to go back to work and get after it and gett better at some things. So, maybe these last couple of games is an opportunity for us to learn from. Only time will tell.”

It took WNCC some time to get uncorked. With eight minutes left in the first half, WNCC held a slim 28-27 lead over the Panthers. It was over the next four minutes that the Cougars opened up the contest, going on a 17-1 run. During that run, Busma had 10 of his 19 points including six straight points. WNCC went on to lead 52-36 at halftime.

The second half was all WNCC and it was Hill that started things early with 12 of the first 20 points for a 72-42 lead. WNCC kept playing strong as they went on a 11-0 run midway through the second half for ann 89-48 lead.

Later, Lloyd Hickinson and Devon West put on a dunking exhibition. Hickinson started things with a drive down the middle and a power dunk for a 108-64 lead. West followed that with a power dunk of his own seconds later and WNCC went on to the 116-67 win.

Joyce said this team still needs to learn to play strong for 40 minutes.

“I just think when you are young like this, obviously you have to be patient. We expect some of these things to happen at times when you start sluggish and then get going,” he said. “The problem is, when you play better teams, you can’t spot them leads and you can’t spot them points where you always have to play from behind. That is something we just need to grow and work through.”

WNCC, now 7-4 on the season, will return to action this weekend when they travel to the Lamar, Colo., Classic. After that, they will participate in the Region IX Shootout in Torrington, Wyo., Dec. 7-8 before finishing off the second semester Dec. 14 at home against Laramie County Community College.

Joyce said they cannot take any games for granted from here on out.

“It doesn’t matter if we are playing at home or on the road, our margin of error is very small right now. We are learning so much about ourselves of what we can do,” he said. “Hopefully, our guys will bounce back and we will have a good week of practice and we will be ready to go. Eventually, I think this will be a good team. It will take a little time.

Buckley 36 31 -- 67
WNCC 52 64 -- 116
BUCKLEY AIR FORCE
CJ Justice 16, James Lewis 21, Rich Page 1, Joshua Cradoet 8, Reginald Slaton 3, DeShawn Crawford 15, Mike Washington 3.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Greg Hinkle 2, Jamie Eisinger 10, Daniel Smith 7, Kelvin Franklin 9, Lloyd Hickinson 10, Drew Eisinger 16, Deividas Busma 19, Chris Hamblin 3, Doradji Wilson 12, Devin West 7, Tearon Hill 21.