WNCC men topple EWC in sub-region contest

                TORRINGTON, Wyo. -- Tyler Crosbie finished with 24 points and the Western Nebraska Community College got some gutsy play down the stretch in pulling out an 89-84 south sub-region win over Eastern Wyoming College Friday at Torrington, Wyo.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck was pleased with the fight his team showed in the contest.

                “It was our first sub-region road win of the year and it was a game where we had to come from behind, so I am proud of the guys,” Beck said. “They kind of dug deep and made some good plays. We hit enough free throws down the stretch. The Lancers just wouldn’t go away as they kept hitting big shots after big shots. Once we got the lead, they [the Lancers] just hung in there and it made us nervous, but I am really proud that we could go on the road in a rivalry game against a good team like EWC and get the win.”

                There was a stretch in the second half where Crosbie scored nine of 11 points to help the Cougars claw back from a 72-67 deficit. Beck said that Crosbie hit some clutch contested shots.

                “He did a great job finishing with a hand in his face with bigger opponents down there,” Beck said. “Crosbie had a great game and also Brandon [Morley] had a good game until he fouled out early. A lot of guys stepped up. That tip from Derrick to secure the rebound at the very end was huge. It was as big of a play that was made all game.”

                The hustle by both teams was huge in an atmosphere that saw both college’s student sections alive with excitement. And, that atmosphere went over to the court as the hustle in the game was huge, according to Beck.

                “There were plenty of intangible things that we had that were key,” he said.

                The contest was so close that neither team had more than a four or five point lead the whole night. The game, in fact, featured eight lead changes and 10 ties.

                The big key in the contest was the Cougars holding the Lancers scoreless for about a three minute span late in the game. At that point, EWC was up 76-73 after a bucket by Jonathan Doss. It was then the Cougars cranked up the offense, going on a 9-0 run behind four points from Diante Mitchell, an offensive putback by Julio Guity, and an old-fashioned 3-point play by DouDou Gueye with two minutes to play.

                The 9-0 run gave WNCC an 82-76 lead with 1:15 to play. But, the Lancers battled back constantly hitting big buckets to keep game in check. The Lancers got big 3-pointers from Doss, Mark hall, and Tyler Owens to slice the lead to one, 85-84.

                That was when the Cougars had the biggest plays. Tyler Crosbie missed the front end of free throw, but the Cougars athleticism came up big as Derrick Bowers tipped the ball to the backcourt and Joel Einfeldt gobbled in the ball by the scorer’s table and then was fouled.

                Einfeldt hit both free throws for an 87-84 lead and then Crosbie got a deflection off the inbounds and Bowers secured the ball and dunked to seal the game.

                EWC had four players in double figures. Doss led the way with 19 points followed by Jason McClellan with 17 points followed. Hall finished with 16 while Kalil Potts had 13.

                WNCC also had four in double figures. Crosbie led the way with 24 followed by Morley with 18, and Mitchell with 11 points.

                WNCC won the contest on a night where they hit shots from within the 3-point area, burying just three long-range shots. EWC had 11 3-pointers.

               

WNCC                   39 50 – 89

EWC                       39 45 – 84

WNCC

Tyler Crosbie 24, Youssoupha Kane 7, Diante Mitchell 11, DouDou Gueye 7, Joel Einfeldt 9, Derrick Bowers 9, Brandon Morley 18, Julio Guity 5.

EWC

Mark Hall 16, Kalil Potts 13, Jonathan Doss 19, Alex Padgett 2, DaShawn Benson 8, Tyler Owens 5, Nelson Kahler 4, Jason McClellan 17.

WNCC women fall to EWC by two

                 The Eastern Wyoming College women’s basketball team put four players in double figures, but it was a late steal and bucket buy Lizette Heredia to register a come-from-behind 65-63 win over Western Nebraska Community College Friday in Torrington, Wyo.

                Late in the game there were a couple of clutch plays. First, with the score tied at 56-56, Lyndie Puckett hit a clutch trey for a 59-56. Later, with EWC up 62-61, Puckett hit another jumper to give WNCC a 63-62 lead with a minute to play.

                The big play, though, came next from Heredia, who recorded a steal with 22 seconds to play and drove the court for an easy bucket and a 64-63 lead. Courtney Dollison then hit one of two free throws with 4.4 seconds. WNCC had a chance to tie the contest or go ahead a couple times, but committed costly turnovers.

                Early, WNCC held control. The Cougars held a 14-2 lead early behind the inside play of Lile Havili, who had 10 early points. The Cougars kept the Lancers from making any big runs as they raced to a 37-29 halftime lead.

                WNCC kept the edge early in the second half as he held a 48-38 lead with 13 minutes to play on back-to-back Shalisa Moffit buckets and an Angela Vigil trey. WNCC held a 51-43 lead when the Lancers made their first big run, going on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 53-51 since scoring the opening bucket.

                From there it was a dogfight to the end.

                The Lancers shot 43 percent from the field compared 38 percent for the Cougars The Lancers had five treys to WNCC’s four. The Cougars out-rebounded the Lancers 48-31. Havili led on the boards for WNCC with 10.

                The Cougars had just two in double figures. Havili had the double-double, collecting 16 points to go with her 10 boards. Moffit also chipped in 11 points.

                The Lancers had four in double figures. Cross led the way with 13 points and seven rebounds. Heredia had 12 points with four steals, while Dollison and Kara Babola each had 11 points.

WNCC (15-5)                      37 26 – 63

EWC                                       29 36 – 65

WNCC

Laurin Rivera 6, Shalisa Moffit 11, Lyndie Puckett 5, Abi Lujan 3, Angela Vigil 9, Ashley Stevens 9, Kaylee Biddell 2, Lile Havili 16, Olivia Vogel 2.

EWC

Asia Roper 2, Joanna Perez 7, Jordan Nelson 7, Courtney Dollison 11, Lizette Heredia 12, Clara Vinton 2, Brittany Cross 13, Kara Babola 11.

WNCC women pick up 16th wn of the season

               The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put three players in double figures and connected on seven 3-pointers to register an emotional 75-73 win over Casper College Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

                Ashley Stevens and Lile Havili paced the Cougars with 14 points followed by Amgela Vigil with 12. The big shot of the game, though, came from Vigil, who drove the paint for an easy bucket with 31 seconds to play for an easy bucket and a 3-point lead.

                Vigil said she couldn’t believe she was that wide open down the paint.

                “I was surprised with how open it was,” she said. “The play was for me to go up and score but I had a little fake pass and it worked out good.”

                The win was huge after the Cougars were down after falling to Lamar on Saturday. This win picked the team up quite a bit.

“This win is good because we got back on our feet,” she said. “We were a little bit down after the Lamar game, but this game got us going again.”

                Overall, though, the Cougars never trailed in the contest and the lead was only tied just three times. Vigil said they played well against a scrappy Casper squad.

                “It is a pretty big win for us,” she said. “We beat them the first time and we knew they were going to come out tough the second time.”

                A big key was the Cougars first half. After a back-and-fourth start with the Cougars holding a slim 12-10 lead. That was when the Cougars kicked it into high gear, going on a 18-7 run that saw them lead 30-17 behind 3-pointers from Laurin Rivera and Ally Vasquez. WNCC led at halftime 43-32.

                Casper outscored WNCC 41-32 in the second half and Vigil said it was a matter that they lost a little focus.

                “We were a little bit off the second half, but we made up for it with our hustle,” Vigil said. “We wanted it more, so we came out with the win.”

                Still, the Cougars never lost the lead. WNCC led 64-55 before Casper came back to tie the game at 64 and then 66. The Cougars then hit clutch free throws, going 6-for-6 for a 72-67 lead. Casper sliced the lead to 72-71 and that was when Vigil found a wide-open lane for an easy bucket with 31-.7 seconds. After that the Cougars defense held tough for the team’s 16^th win of the season.

                WNCC connected on seven 3-pointers, five of which came in the first half. Vasquez and Shalisa Moffit each had two treys on the night, while Rivera, Stevens, and Abi Lujan all had one.

                WNCC also shot 43 percent from the field compared to 36 percent for Casper, and the Cougars were 75 percent from the charity stripe, going 18 of 24.

                WNCC will be back in action Friday when they travel to Eastern Wyoming College for a sub-region contest beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Casper                  32 41 – 73

WNCC                   43 32 – 75

CASPER

Sakayla Davenport 2, Shanda Post 7, Whitney Lott 4, Cheyenne Balster 3, Kassidy Scott 11, Ragen Wilson 2, Kendyl Nunn 29, Elisa Johnson 15.

WNCC

Allyson Vasquez 8, Laurin Rivera 9, Shalisa Moffit 6, Abi Lujan 8, Angela Vigil 12, Ashley Stevens 14, Kaylee Biddell 4, Lile Havili 14.

WNCC men pick up 12th win of season over Casper

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received 24 points from Diante Mitchell and a big all-around contest from Tyler Crosbie in capturing their 12^th win of the season with a 95-87 win over Casper College on Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

                Crosbie, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half, helped ignite a Cougar team that literally controlled the pace of the contest for the final 30 minutes. Crosbie not only had 16 points, but pulled down eight rebounds and committed just two turnovers.

                Crosbie said this was a huge win against their rival from Casper.

                “This was a huge win. Coach has been telling us all year that there are a couple rivalries that many of us don’t understand because we are freshmen and Casper is one of those rivalries,” Crosbie said. “I thought all of us played amazing we came out and had great chemistry with each other and shared the ball, scored. Everything was on point tonight.”

                It was the Cougars intensity that played a key part in the win. Crosbie said this team seems to play better when the pace of the game is at a high speed.

                “We had a really good practice this week on Monday and that transferred over to today,” he said. “We were just ready to get after it. After losing a couple games that we thought we shouldn’t have, it is good to get a win.”

                A big key in the contest, though, was rebounding. WNCC out-rebounded the Thunderbirds 54-43. Brandon Morley pulled down 13 boards to go with his 10 points. Crosbie and Youssoupha Kane each had eight boards.

                Shooting was also a big factor. WNCC connected on 45 percent of their shots, including seven 3-pointers for 32 percent. Casper show 38 percent from the field, and connected on eight treys.

                Casper held an early lead at 16-9. It was then the Cougars went wild, going on a 12-0 run that was highlighted by plenty of gutsy play, including a drive by Jalen Griffiths and another drive by Crosbie for a 21-16 lead.

                WNCC kept playing on all cylinders as Crosbie and Joel Enifeldt treys. The big shot, though, came with three seconds in the half when Mitchell hit a 3-pointer and was fouled for a 4-point play to give the Cougars a 50-41 halftime lead.

                The second half was all Cougars as they never did relinquish the lead. In fact, the Cougars jumped out to a 58-43 lead early in the period. WNCC pushed the lead to 84-71 on a Derrick Bowers trey and a Mitchell bucket.

                That was when Casper made their run, slicing the lead to three, 84-81, but clutch free throws pushed the Cougars to their 12^th win of the season.

                WNCC had six players finish in double figure. Mitchell led all scorers with 24 points, followed by Einfeldt with 17, Crosbie with 16, Kane with 12, and Bowers and Morley with 10 points.

                Casper was led in scoring by George Edwards with 27 points as well as 19 rebounds. Daniel Nwosu also chipped in 24 points.

                WNCC (12-9) will be back in action Friday when they travel to Eastern Wyoming College.

                “That game is going to big,” Crosbie said. “We saw them sitting here watching us so we are going to be ready for them. We are going to give them everything we got. It will be a good game.”

Casper                  42 45 – 87

WNCC                   50 45 – 95

CASPER

Chase Riley 9, Jay Wright 19, Daniel Nwosu 24, George Edwards 27, Garrett Swanson 8.

WNCC

Tyler Crosbie 16, Preston Christensen 1, Youssoupha Kane 12, Diante Mitchell 24, DouDou Gueye 3, Joel Einfeldt 17, Julan Griffiths 2, Derrick Bowers 10, Brandon Morley 10.