The two freshman guards combined for 41 points and eight 3-pointers in helping the Cougars to an 89-66 win over the Indians. Eisinger finished the contest, the Cougars’ East sub-region opener, with 21 points and five 3-pointers, while Franklin had 20 points and three treys.
WNCC coach Brian Joyce said this team is starting to come together. “I think these guys are playing the way they are capable of playing,” he said. “We have been under achieving in a lot of ways individually and as a team so far and I think that is a sign of being young and these guys are just stepping up now."
Early on, though, the Cougars weren’t hitting all cylinders trailing McCook 21-19 with 10 minutes gone in the game. It was at that point that Cougars put their game in another gear and opened up a 43-27 behind a solid inside-outside game.
During that 24-6 run, the Cougars canned three 3-pointers including two from Eisinger and one from Jamie Eisinger. Drew Eisinger also took an assist from his brother Jamie for another bucket. That run helped the Cougars build a 45-34 halftime lead.
Joyce said the Cougars’ offensive show was a case of his team playing strong defense.
“Our defense creates our offense,” Joyce said. “When our defense is more solid, it gives us more opportunities to get out and score. It also gets us a chance to get better shots and more possessions."
In the second half, the Cougars defense help bolster the Cougars on the offensive side. Joyce said his team didn’t do a very good job of that aspect the first semester, but was pleased with it in the team’s first game back from break.
“We have been talking in practice that whenever we have some sort of adversity, we have to fight through it,” he said. “We just can’t bog down and let that run turn from six to 14. We have to stop it and we have we need to control what we needed to control. I thought we did a good job with that."
In the second half, McCook sliced the Cougar lead to 13 points, 63-50, on a 5-0 run. That was as close as they got as WNCC opened up an 18-point lead on a Franklin driving bucket. WNCC pushed the lead to 21 points minutes later on six straight Chris Hamblin points, including a razzle-dazzling slam dunk.
Still, as well as the team played offensively, Joyce said there were stretches his team didn’t play well.
“I thought we played really sloppy at times on offense but that is expected when you are laid off for several weeks,” he said. “But I thought we fought through a lot of things. We got down in that first half and we fought through it. When they made a run in the second half, we fought through it. I thought we did a really good job that way especially extending the lead in the second half and we controlled the tempo a little bit better despite the sloppy play at the beginning.”
The Cougars placed four players in double figures. Drew Eisinger led the way with 21 points followed by Franklin with 20, Hamblin with 14, and Deividas Busma with 11. Busma also finished with 10 rebounds.
WNCC, which improves to 10-7 on the season and 1-0 in the East Sub-region, will travel to Cheyenne, Wyo., to face Laramie County Community College on Saturday at 7 p.m. The last time these two teams met, on Dec. 14 at Cougar Palace, the Golden Eagles escaped with a 71-70 win.
McCook (9-8) 34 32 — 66
WNCC (10-7) 45 44 — 89
MCCOOK COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Luvonte Rhines 15, Trey Mosby 15, Javoun Martin 4, Jared Deal 8, Ronnell Grant 4, Lionell Robinson 6, Manuel Cook 2, Russell Roden 2, Trevor Ridlen 2, Josh Ridlen 1, Josh Fanslow 6, Leon Kirkland 3.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Jamie Eisinger 6, Daniel Smith 9, Kelvin Franklin 20, Lloyd Hicknson 4, Drew Eisinger 21, Deividas Busma 11, Chris Hamblin 14, Doradji Wilson 2, Terrell Price 2.
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