The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team opened the Region IX South conference schedule with a hard-fought 76-74 win over Otero Junior College Friday night at Cougar Palace.

                The win evens the Cougars' record at 5-5 but more importantly snaps a four-game losing streak.

                WNCC's win Friday was a team effort with 10 players finding the scoring columns as well as coming up with big buckets.

                Djodje Dimitrijevic and Vinnie Shahid each finished with 15 points. Shahid had two treys while dishing out five assists.

                The contest started out well for WNCC as they built an 18-8 lead. Otero battle back to trail the Cougars 31-29 at halftime.

                The second half was a battle on both sides. The Cougars built a nine-point lead, 51-42 on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Austin Payne with 12:39 to play. WNCC pushed the lead to double digits, 64-53 on a Shahid trey and then a bucket.

                WNCC had an 11-point lead, 74-63 with about three minutes to play before Otero slowly fought back, slicing the lead to 75-72 with 50 seconds to play. The Rattlers got even closer with 16 seconds to play after Jervae Robinson hit two free throws.

                Michael Connor, Jr., came back and hit one of two free throws with 12.3 seconds and that set up the final possession. The Cougar defense stepped up big covering the Otero players and with time winding down, the Cougars forced a bad pass turnover as the clock expired.

                WNCC outshot Otero 40 percent to 37 percent. WNCC finished with four 3-pointers to Otero's four.

                Shahid and Dimitrijevic were the only Cougars in double figures. Jeremy Ruffin came close, finishing with nine points while pulling down eight rebounds. Trent Harris chipped in eight points while Payne had seven.

                WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they face Trinidad State Junior College at 4 p.m. Trinidad State earned a slim 109-108 win over Eastern Wyoming College Friday night.

Otero                    29 45 – 74

WNCC                   31 45 – 76

OTERO

Jervae Robinson 10, Andre Arissol 5, Jordan Jones 10, Chudler Bile 13, Michael Sparks 7, Sekou Cisse 7, Jonathan Scott 7, Matt Cameron 4, Charles Gavin 10, Jesse Barnes 1.

WNCC
Austin Payne 7, Daylon Harris 1, Trent Harris 8, RJ Palmer 6, Vinnie Shahid 15, Michael Connor 6, Jalan Brown 4, Marlon Sierra 5, Djodje Dimitrijovic 15, Jeremy Ruffin 9.