WNCC men fall in season-opener to College of Eastern Utah

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received a 22-point effort from Geddes Robinson, but it wasn’t enough as the College of Eastern Utah outlasted the Cougars 77-61 in both team’s season opener.

Eastern Utah blistered the nets with 47 percent shooting, including making 11 of 20 from the 3-point line. WNCC, on the other hand, shot just 38.3 percent from the field, including going 1-of-15 from beyond the arc.

WNCC first-year coach Russ Beck said his team just had an off night, especially rebounding.

“We just fell through in executing our game plan in terms of getting the offensive rebound,” he said. “I would guess they had 30 points just from offensive rebounds. A team that goes 8 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half is going to be hard to beat. The second half we knew it wasn’t going to be that way. There were eight possessions where we went zone and they scored twice. We got the stops when we needed; we just failed to convert on the offensive side. We weren’t patient enough. We took the first available shot instead of making them play defense.”

The first half was a dogfight as both teams battled back and forth. WNCC held a 14-11 lead on a Francisco Cruz bucket, only to watch the Golden Eagles come storming back to hold a 21-18 lead on a Isiah Williams 3-pointer.

WNCC kept battling against the taller Eastern Utah squad, scoring four straight buckets to take a 26-21 lead. Geoffrey Firmin had the big plays putting WNCC up by thee after getting a steal and driving the length of the court for a bucket. O’Rion Hughes followed seconds later with a bucket to put the Cougars up 26-21.

Eastern Utah came roaring back taking the lead with 4:15 to play in the opening quarter on a Cliff Coloman trey at 28-26. Robinson brought the Cougars back, scoring three straight buckets to put WNCC up 32-30 with 2:12 to play. Williams buried a trey and then Micheal Glover had an old-fashioned 3-point play with 36 seconds left to help the Golden Eagles take a 41-34 lead into the locker room.

WNCC played tough early in the second half as Robinson connected on two bucket and then Firmin hit the only trey of the game for the Cougars to cut the deficit to 47-41. Eastern Utah then went on a 12-6 run to push the lead to double digits, 59-47 on a Williams 3-pointer.

WNCC cut the lead to within seven with 5:32 to play on a Al-Akeem Watson bucket and free throws from Robinson and Firmin, but that was as close as the Cougars could get.

Robinson led the Cougars with 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting from the field. Firmin finished with 15 points and five assists, while Cruz netted 10 points. Bamforth, who was the team’s leading scorer a year ago, was held scoreless.

“Geddes is just a horse. We run some sets for him to get some touches down low,” he said. “He is a very crafty player. He was 9 of 13 from the field and we need to continue to feed him the ball. But, give credit to CEU’s defense. They did a good job of guarding Scott Bamforth. He had an off night but that is going to happen. We just need guys to step up off the bench and I thought Al-Akeem Watson did a tremendous job coming in. He was hitting big shots and getting rebounds. O’Rion Hughes came in and gave us some solid defense.

"But, it all comes down to rebounding. If we continue to give up offensive rebounds and give teams second and third chances, we might be able to stop once, but you can’t stop two or three times.”

Eastern Utah had five players hit the double figure column. Glover led the team with 17 points followed by Williams with 12, Coloman with 11 and Chris Mast and Jonathan Mills with 10 points each. University of Nebraska recruit 6-foot-10 Vander Jorguim finished with six points, including two 3-pointers.

The Cougars will battle Eastern Utah on Saturday in Price,Utah, and Beck said they compete with anybody. They just need to execute the game plan.

“We are definitely a team that can play with the best,” he said. “It was just a night where we failed to do one important thing and that is rebounding.”

Eastern Utah (1-0) 41 36 – 77

WNCC (1-0) 34 27 – 61

COLLEGE OF EASTERN UTAH

Michael Glover 17, Isiah Williams 12, Cliff Coloman 11, Tony Dalton 5, Chris Mast 10, Jonathan Mills 10, Vander Jorquim 6.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Geoffrey Firmin 15,O’Rion Hughes 3, Joe Stock 1, Francisco Cruz 10, Al-Akeem Watson 6, Brylle Kamen 4, Geddes Robinson 22.