Photo courtesy of Holley RothWhat a difference two halves make for the Western Nebraska Community College men. The Cougars trailed 45-43 at halftime and then used a 20-5 run in the second half to capture their 21st win of the season with a commanding 91-71 win over Eastern Wyoming College Saturday at Cougar Palace.
In the women's contest, the Cougars placed five players in double figures and out-rebounded the Lancers 60-26 to registering their 20th win of the season with a 90-60 win Saturday.
WNCC men's coach Brian Joyce was pleased with how his team performed in the second half to pick up the win, allowing EWC just 26 points in the final 20 minutes.
"I told them at halftime that we don't learn how to get stops, we are not going to win games," he said. "We shot 60 percent in the first half and you can't shoot any better than that, but we gave up 55 percent from the field and in the second half we did a lot better job in terms of playing defense. That was the biggest issue."
The Cougars won the defensive stop category 37-27 and the other big reason for the Cougar's win was the fight they had inside, recording a number of tip-ins as well as out-rebounding the Lancers 38-26. Chris Hamblin led the team with six boards, while Sedrick McBounds and Larry Brown each had five.
"I thought Chris really set the tone and I thought this was one of his best games. He ends up with 18 points, but it is just the little things that he does is what makes us successful," Joyce said. "He is such a selfish player. He cares about our team and if our team continues to think about the group rather then individuals, we are hard to beat."
WNCC definitely had plenty of balance scoring, placing four players in double figures. Bamforth finished with 20 points and three 3-pointers, while Cruz and Hamblin each had 18 points, followed by Sedrick McBounds with 10.
EWC had just two players record double-digit scoring. Lance Korell had 13 points, while Arunas Simanavicius had 12 points.
The game was definitely a dogfight as the WNCC and EWC men hooked up in a dogfight in the first half with neither team gaining more than a four point lead. WNCC held a 29-25 lead on a Scott Bamforth trey midway through the first half, but the Lancers came roaring back, taking a 31-29 lead with 6:12 to play on a Winston Harris 3-pointer.
Both teams stayed close until with 5.5 seconds remained as Billy Butler nailed two free throws to give the Lancers the 45-43 lead going into the locker room. EWC shot 55 percent from the floor in the opening half and connected on 7 of 15 3-pointers. WNCC wasn't shooting too bad, either, shooting 60 percent from the field and connected on 6 of 11 from beyond the arc.
The second half was the telling story for both teams. WNCC sizzled the nets for 64 percent shooting and connected on four 3-pointers. The Lancers were on the opposite end. EWC couldn't buy a bucket, shooting just 29 percent from the field and did not bury one 3-pointer on nine attempts in the second half.
The big difference in the contest, however, was that 20-5 run. EWC just pulled ahead 48-46 on a free throw by Butler with three minutes gone in the period. Bamforth came down the court and got a tip-in to start the run.
From there, the Cougars played lights out as Bamforth connected on two 3-pointers, Larry Brown hit a 3-pointer that banked in, and Chris Hamblin had a monster dunk. When it was all said and done in the crucial run, the Cougars held a 68-53 lead with 12:33 to play.
The contest wasn't over, though, as the Lancers sliced the lead to 12 points at 72-59 on a Leo Morris bucket. WNCC quickly stopped the momentum-turning Lancer plays as Francisco Cruz recorded an old-fashioned 3-point play and then Tarell Clark had an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Cruz to put WNCC up 80-59 with eight minutes to play.
WNCC never let the Lancers get any closer in getting their 21st win of the season.
In the women's game, WNCC also had five players in double figures, paced by Stormye Everett's 18 points, followed by Shaquilah Davis with 17, Tawny Drexler with 14, and Lorena Medeiros and Janae Willis with 12 points each. Drexler also finished with a double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds.
Drexler, who also led the team with three steals, said this team is starting to find their groove offensively.
"I think we came out strong in the first half and did what we needed to do on defense. Then the offense came with the defense. In the second half we got a little sloppy," Drexler said. "We finally found our offense, thank God, and come together as a team."
EWC coach Tom Andersen said they couldn't match the Cougars' inside game. WNCC out-rebounded the Lancers 60-26, led by Drexler's 12 boards and SeLina Ysac's 11.
"I thought we played hard both halves. We executed better the second half," Andersen said. "The big difference in the game is we shot poorly and they shot very well, as well as the huge for them on the rebounding. If you can't rebound, you have to shoot pretty good and we didn't shoot well. We have to hit some threes to be effective and we had a few in a row in the second half, which got us a little bit momentum."
The Lancers, who connected on 9 of 37 3-pointers for the game, were led by Noelle Jones with 16 points. Jones buried four 3-pointers. WNCC, though, was deadlier from beyond the arc, burying 9 of 15 long-range shots. Everett, Davis, Medeiros and Ashley Burns each collected two treys each. Burns' second trey was a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half to give the Cougars a 49-24 halftime lead.
The second half was a better played by both teams. The Lancers, who shot just 25 percent in the first half, shot 33 percent for the final 20 minutes. Jones did most of the damage scoring 14 of her team-high 16 points in that quarter.
WNCC, however, continued scoring at will as the Cougars went on a 12-0 run midway through the final frame to open up a 70-40 lead. Janae Willis and Medeiros scored four points during the run.
The Lancers still had a little bit of fight, going on a 11-4 run to slice the deficit to 74-49, but Drexler added three points to stop the run. Then, when SeLina Ysac buried a 3-pointer with three minutes to play, any hopes of a comeback was extinguished.
EWC was paced by Jones with 16 points followed by Danielle Brown with 14 points.
EWC women will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Northeastern Junior College. The Lancer men will host Laramie County Community College on Tuesday in a key sub-region contest.
The Cougar men and women will have a week off before hosting sub-region games on Friday against Northeast (Nebraska ) Community College and the McCook Community College on Saturday.
Women's Game
EWC 24 36 – 60
WNCC 49 41 – 90
EASTERN WYOMING
Michelle Flaherty 2, Alex Leake 1, Koel Noel 8, Jessica Martinez 8, Noelle Jones 16, Jessica Brown 9, Danielle Brown 14, Ashlee Hudson 2.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 4, Lorena Medeiros 12, SeLina Ysac 6, Shaquilah Davis 17, Stormye Everett 18, Janae Willis 12, Tawny Drexler 14, Ashley Burns 7.
Men's Game
EWC 44 26 – 71
WNCC 43 48 – 91
EASTERN WYOMING
Billy Butler 8, Jacarri Culberson 4, Lance Korell 13, Edsel Vila 2, matt Pritchett 7, Leo Morris 7, Arunas Simanavicius 12, Andrija Zivkovic 1, Greg Patterson 3, Caleb Moore 7, Winston Harris 7.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Lloyd Hickinson 1, Tarell Clark 8, Daniel Smith 2, Chris Hamblin 18, Scott Bamforth 20, Francisco Cruz 18, Sedrick McBounds 10, Larry Brown 6, John Bright 4, Ali Djim 4.
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