Saturday, November 08, 2008

WNCC men's basketball tops Warren Air Force Base 114-52

Western Nebraska Community College's Scott Bamforth scored 27 points and the Cougar men used a smothering defense in registering an 114-52 win over Warren Air Force Base in the second day of the Cougar Classic Saturday at Cougar Palace.

Bamforth scored 19 of his points in the final three minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half to open up a 10-point contest in the first half to a 67-31 lead with 15:53 left in the game.

Bamforth, though, wasn't the Cougar to notch double figures. Four other Cougars collected double-digit scoring as Tarell Clark finished with 16 points, and Ali Djim, Larry Brown and Sedrick McBounds each collected 10 points.

Francisco Cruz also put up a near double-double on the night, finishing with 10 rebounds and nine points.

WNCC coach Brian Joyce said this team has so much depth that it is fun to watch them create steals and points on the court.

"This team is very competitive and I think the best thing about this group is they are really unselfish," Joyce said. "And, being as unselfish as we are, you will have a high number of assists and sometimes you have more turnovers then you like. But, these guys are making the extra pass rather do something one-on-one. I think over a period of time, that will pay off for us."

The Cougars registered 17 steals and 21 assists as a team. Daniel Smith had six assists in the contest, while Clark had four steals and four assists.

Joyce said, while he liked the number of steals, his players need to be smart when getting that aggressive on defense.

"I thought we reached at times, which again, we have to be disciplined in terms of ball pressure and not reaching to put us in foul trouble," he said. "Although those steals are important, we don't want them for us to giving up penetration and put our big guys at risk."

Many of those steals came in the beginning of the second half, where the Cougars just stymied the Wranglers' offense with a smothering defense that saw the Cougars go on a 15-0 run to open up a 52-38 game to make it 67-28 in a matter of minutes.

The Cougars also went on a nice run five minutes later to push the lead to an even bigger margin. With 14 minutes to play, the Cougars outscored Warren Air Force Base 12-5 over the next four minutes. Larry Brown spearheaded the run with six points, including a dunk and then an offensive put back.

The Cougars topped the century mark for the second straight night with 5:24 to play ad Djim scored on a five-footer to push the score to 101-47.

The game, however, was not as one-sided the entire 40 minutes. In fact, Warren Air Force was battling the Cougars tooth and nail for the first 15 minutes, holding a 15-14 lead with 10 minutes gone in the first half on a Oranzie Simmons bucket.

The Wranglers were also within three points, 20-17, on a Russell Smith bucket before the Cougars started to distance themselves from the Wranglers slowly behind a Lloyd Hickinson tip-in and a Clark old-fashioned 3-point play. WNCC led had halftime 48-24.

WNCC out-rebounded the Wrangers 52-20 as Cruz led the team with 10 followed by Djim with 7 and Sedrick McBounds and Clark with five each.

Warren Air Force Base, out of Cheyenne, Wyo., was paced by Simmons' 16 points followed by Julius Philpot with 15.

WNCC, 2-0, will now go on the road the next two weekends competing in separate Air Force Prep tournaments. This weekend, the squad will face Miles Community College and Air Force Prep on the road, which Joyce said should give the Cougars an indication of where they are.

"We play good teams down there and it will be a good test for us to be on the road and see how we react," he said. "We have a lot of games in a short period of time. I think our depth will be a factor in helping us through that."

Buckley AFB 36 48 – 84

Southwest Academy 31 47 – 78

BUCKLEY

CJ Justice 16, James Lewis 31, Arlington Riley 12, Daeyon Wall 10, Joshua Cradoct 7, Reginald Slaton 4, Tim Blacwell 2, P.J. Williams 1.

SOUTHWEST

Terrance Hackett 13, Quincey Diggs 21, Keon Bennett 16, Kaylin Noel 11, Greg Womack 7, Andrew Maguss 2, Harbi Khangura 5, Demetrious Gross 3.

Warren AFB 24 28 – 52

WNCC (2-0) 48 66 – 114

WARREN AIR FORCE

Will Ryhne 7, Russell Smith 4, Ryan Davis 10, Oranzie Simmons 16, Julius Philpot 15.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Lloyd Hickinson 6, Tarell Clark 16, Daniel Smith 9, Chris Hamblin 4, Scott Bamforth 27, Francisco Cruz 9, Sedrick McBounds 10, Virgil Baker 9, Larry Brown 10, John Bright 4, Ali Djim 10.

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