The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team will be heading into the semester break with a little momentum after the Cougars played strong defense down the stretch and earned a huge 95-91 win over Casper College at Cougar Palace.
                Casper came into the contest at 11-2 while averaging 100 points a contest. The Cougars, in their last five games, was averaging 111 points a contest. The two teams combined for 186 points as the Cougars buried 10 3-pointers and made clutch free throws to register their fifth win of the season.
                WNCC head coach Roybell Baez was pleased with how his team played down the stretch. He said the key was holding Casper’s Abdul Bashir down, who had several NCAA Division I coaches in the stands watching him.
                “I thought it was a complete team effort. You saw in the first half our guys flying around,” Baez said. “I told you this morning that we were not going to let number 4 beat us. We were just going to track him and let the others beat us and that is how it worked out. Every little space out there he went for it and that is why UCLA and Ole Miss were here to watch him. He is a really good player and I thought our guys did a really good job on him. I was proud of the effort.”
Casper’s Bashir finished with 17 points and just two treys. He was also 5-of-16 from the field.
                WNCC, on the other hand, had five players in double figures led by Elijah Hollins with 24 points with four threes. Harris finished with 17 points followed by Isaiah St. Preux with 15, Mathiang Maker with 12, and Kendrick Preston with 10.
                Baez said he is proud of the way this team battled tonight to go into the break on a bright spot.
                “I am just so proud of these guys. Starting off the way we did to start the year, it would have been easy for the guys to just cave in. We are young and we have a lot of freshmen playing out there and I keep telling the fellas that we will be OK. We just have to continue to have the fire and what better way to go into the break than beating a team like that. That is a really good Casper team. They are really good and they are really well coached. They didn’t get uncomfortable and they got back into the game . I just thought our guys were tough tonight and that’s something I am proud of.”
                It was a game where neither team led by more than double digits as each team fought back from deficits all night long.
                WNCC started things as Toms Linis hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 6-2 lead. Casper came back and led 10-8 only to watch the Cougars go up 17-12 on a 3-pointer. WNCC had a 29-24 lead only to watch Casper tied the game at 29 and later at 31. That was when the Cougars went on a run and led 36-31 and later by eight points, 45-37 on a Harris trey. WNCC closed out the half on a Isaiah St. Preux bucket to lead 47-40.
                The Cougars and Casper traded buckets to open the second half left and right. WNCC led 62-54. That was when Casper started to shift the momentum their way, going on a 13-2 run to take a 67-64 lead with 10 minutes to play. WNCC came back to tie the game at 70 on a Maker bucket. The two teams were knotted at 74 with six minutes to play.
                That was when Casper went up by seven, 81-74. WNCC didn’t fold as Hollins nailed a trey and a 2-point field goal. Kendrick Preston then brought the Cougars to within 83-81 with a drive from baseline to baseline. WNCC retook the lead at 86-85 after Harris stole the ball in the paint, drove the length of the court and laid it in.
                The Cougar defense got a turnover and Harris hit another bucket for an 88-87 lead. WNCC led 91-87 on a Hollins 3-pointer with 36.2 seconds. Casper had plenty of chances to make buckets, but each miss resulted in a Cougar rebound. WNCC went up by five on two Harris free throws and then led 95-88 on two Hollins charity tosses with 9.7 seconds. Casper made a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds to play, but it was too late as WNCC got the win 95-91.
                Casper shot 50 percent for the field but were just 12.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Thunderbirds also connected on just 56 percent of their free throws (18-of-31). WNCC shot 43 percent and were 29 percent from beyond the arc (10-of-35). WNCC was 75 percent from the free throw line (15-of-20).
                WNCC, 5-8, will be off until January when they host Western Wyoming Community College on January 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Cougar Palace followed by road trips to Casper and Gillette the following days.
 
Casper (11-3)                 40 51 – 91
WNCC (5-8)                    47 48 – 95
CASPER
Abdul Bashir 17, Ethan Connery 13, Nate Sasser III 22, Stephen Osei 8, Yel Deeng 12, Blake Neverdon 2, Nathaniel Talich 10, Kamil Cardot 3, Binael Basil 4.
WNCC
Reece Randolph 2, Kellon Harris 17, Elijah Hollins 24, Dorin Nguema 2, Toms Linis 6, Noah Jones 2, Isaiah St. Preux 15, Mathiang Maker 12, Elijah Burney 5, Kendrick Preston 10.