It was the Cougars 18th win of the season, but more importantly, it kept WNCC unbeaten in the sub-region standings with a 2-0 mark, tied with McCook Community College. North Platte drops to 18-4 on the season and 1-2 in the sub-region.
“We knew they were going to make a run, even though we got up early,” WNCC coach Brian Joyce said. “There is a reason why they only lost three games and have the best record in our region, and that is because they hang in there in games like this.
“I thought our guys showed a lot of maturity in bouncing back from the game the other night, which was a disappointing loss. Nevertheless, this win reflects a little about our character when you can bounce back from setbacks.”
WNCC quickly got behind the 8-ball as North Platte jumped out to a 6-0 lead. WNCC came back, taking their first lead at 11-10 on back-to-back buckets with 14:15 to play in the opening half. The Cougars continued hammering away at the Knights as Scott Bamforth nailed four 3-pointers to give the Cougars their widest margin of the game at 32-20 with 6:08 to play.
North Platte fought back, going on a 13-1 run to tie the game at 33-33 on a Isaac Joyner 3-pointer with 3:34 left in the half. The Knights retook the lead again at 36-33 and later at 39-37, before Danny Smith nailed two free throws to send the game in the locker room tied at 39-39.
The second half was a back and forth affair as each team took one to two points leads. With 10 minutes to play, the Cougars mounted a crucial 10-2 run to put WNCC up 66-58. John Bright came off the bench to ignite the run, scoring six points, including an offensive tip-in. Francisco Cruz also added four points in the run.
Joyce said that was a crucial series of points for the team.
“John gave us really good juice off the bench,” he said. “He got six points and five rebounds and all those were in the second half. That was a real factor. But, this is a collective team effort. We got a lot of guys that can step up each game and we have to keep worrying about the team instead of ourselves. The guys did a good job of that tonight.”
After WNCC went up by eight points, North Platte did battle back staying within reach after a Chase Graban 3-pointer sliced the lead to 66-64 with three minutes to play. Cruz, however, quickly answered Graban’s trey with one of his own. North Platte trailed 71-68 with a minute to play, but WNCC sealed the game with clutch free throw shooting. Tarell Clark put the capper on the win when he stole the ball and slammed home the final points of the game.
The one thing that really impressed Joyce in the game was how the team took care of the ball. WNCC had just seven turnovers. They also shot 49 percent from the floor, including going 12 of 16 from the charity stripe.
“The number one thing we wanted to do was take care of the ball,” he said. “We had just seven turnovers in the game and in a tough game like this to have seven turnovers, I think it is very impressive and it is a testament to the toughness of our guys and how we played in the second half.”
The win was especially sweet for the Cougars after Lamar Community College stopped their 7-game winning streak 59-57 on Friday. Joyce said there definitely was a lot more energy tonight.
“There was quite a bit more energy then Friday,” he said. “I think the NJC game drained us a little bit because it fell at the wrong time during the week of our normal practice. I think this [tonight’s game] was indicative of what happens when we have the proper amount of rest. Still, the guys gave a good effort regardless what the circumstances were. This was an opportunity to bounce back and they did.”
The Cougars put four players in double figures. Cruz paced the team with 17 points followed by Bamforth with 16 points. Brown chipped in 15 points, while Clark came off the bench to finish with 10 points.
North Platte was paced by Joseph Ragland with 19 points followed by Joyner and Bain with 12 points each. Bain also pulled down 10 rebounds.
WNCC will have another sub-region battle Saturday night when they travel to McCook to face the Indians in a battle of 2-0 sub-region teams. Joyce knows it won’t easy.
“Any game on the road, particularly a sub-region game, will be important,” he said. “We know it will be an hostile environment down there and, obviously, they are playing pretty well if they beat North Platte at home. We will be in for a battle, but I think our guys are mature to figure out how to win these kind of games.”
North Platte (18-4) 39 31 – 70
WNCC (18-5) 39 40 – 79
NORTH PLATTE
Joseph Ragland 19, Jordan Weatherfield 6, Dorian Williams 6, Chase Graban 8, Isaac Joyner 12, Eugene Bain 12, Kamil Gawrzydek 2, Rundell Mauge 5.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Tarell Clark 10, Daniel Smith 7, Chris Hamblin 8, Scott Bamforth 16, Francisco Cruz 17, Larry Brown 15. John Bright 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment