The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team put five players in double figures as they made their home debut a successful one with a 113-50 win over Adams State Junior Varsity Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace.
Freshman Marlon Sierra paced the Cougars with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds. Sierra said they played well, especially in the second half where they held the Grizzlies to 19 percent shooting and just 22 points.
"It was just being comfortable in what we were doing," he said. "The first half we were to inconsistent and the second half we started making points, starting making shots. We just started to get comfortable."
The Cougars did start getting comfortable halfway through the first half, too. WNCC held an early 16-4 lead only to watch Adams State slice the lead to 28-21. After that, the Cougars went on a 26-7 run to open up a 54-28 lead at intermission.
Sierra said it was all about playing hard.
"We played very hard, executed, and it just comes out to how we practice," the freshman from Miami, Florida, said. "We practice at a high level and when it comes to a game plan, it just comes easy because coach makes us practice hard."
The second half was all WNCC as they opened up the contest by going on a 17-2 run to lead 71-30 just five minutes into the second half. Sierra said playing tough defense was the key to opening up the contest.
"The key to opening up the game was playing defense because we don't play out of our offense, we play out of our defense," he said. "It was really just getting back to the basics, too, like keeping the man in front, making shots when we are wide open, and making the right play."
They definitely made the right plays on the night.
Late in the first half, Scottsbluff's Trent Harris scored eight of his 11 points, including two 3-pointers from the corner.
The early second half run was highlighted by Djodje Dimitrijevic, who had 10 of his 14 points. Late in the game, it was Ricardo Pinne who caught fire, scoring all 14 of his points in a six minute span.
Sierra said this team has plenty of weapons that can score from all over the floor.
"We have people from all around the world and have people that can do a lot of things," he said. "We just have to use them the right way and we should be successful."
WNCC was dominating all the way around, too. The Cougars held a sizeable rebounding advantage, 70-26. Jeremy Ruffin led the team with 15 boards followed by Sierra's 13, and six from Vinnie Shahid.
The Cougars also blistered the nets for 51 percent shooting, including burying nine 3-pointers. Shahid led the way with three treys, while Pinne hit two late in the game.
The Cougars also shared the ball well, dishing off 28 assists and recording 1o steals. Shahid and Dimitrijevic each had seven assists, while Austin Payne had four. Payne also had two blocked shots in the game.
The Cougars scoring was spread out. Behind Sierra's 22 points, Pinne and Dimitrijevic each had 14, Shahid had 13, and Harris 11. Daylon Harris netted nine points, while Diamond Ouwuka and RJ Palmer each had eight points.
WNCC, 4-1, will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the Salt Lake Classic, where they will face defending national champs Salt Lake Community College and Snow College.
Sierra said they have to play tough defense to get the wins.
"Salt Lake won the national tournament last year and they are a good team," he said. "We just need to take care of business and practice. We need to play defense and keep the man in front of you and rebound. That is the key."
Adams State JV 28 22 – 50
WNCC (4-1) 54 59 – 113
ADAMS STATE JV
Cardarius Tobin 12, Rashaan Craig 2, Thomas Trotman 6, Hubert Price 4, Fringy Niclasse 5, Tevin Fisher-Still 5, Ricky Garcia 8, Brett DeVries 4, Anthony Watson 4.
WNCC
Austin Payne 1, Daylon Harris 9, Trent Harris 11, RJ Palmer 8, Vinnie Shahid 13, Ricardo Pinne 14, Diamond Ouwuka 8, Michael Connor 5, Marlon Sierra 22, Miols Popovic 2, Djodje Dimitrijevic 14, Jeremy Ruffin 6.