The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team put four players in double figures and trailed just once in a 92-81 Region IX South win over Trinidad State Junior College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC, in getting their second straight win, put four players in double figures, led by Vinnie Shahid with 23 points. Shahid also had four 3-pointers while going 9 of 10 from the charity stripe.

                Also getting in double figures was RJ Palmer with 15 points followed by 12 each from Michael Connor, Jr., and Djodje Dimitrijevic.

                "I thought we played pretty good," Shahid said. "We are playing ball as a team and that is the reason we have won the last two games."

                WNCC definitely had a team effort as 10 different Cougars found the scoring column while eight different players had a rebound. What helped the Cougars, though, is how they share the ball and that is the team philosophy that Shahid says makes them tough.

                "We are loaded with scorers," Shahid said. "Anybody can score on any given night. We also like to share the ball a lot so that every night the scoring is balanced. We just love to share the ball and that is what we feed off of each other in sharing the ball."

                Saturday's win was a team effort, but it also was because the team started strong. WNCC trailed just once in the game, 3-2, and right after falling behind the Cougars went on a 13-3 run to lead 15-6. WNCC pushed the lead to 22-11 on a Trent Harris 3-pointer.

                Trinidad did come back to slice the first-half lead to 31-25, but WNCC stayed strong as Connor hit a trey and then Shahid and Austin Payne each had a late trey for a 47-37 halftime lead.

                WNCC came out in the second half on an 11-4 run to lead 58-41 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 69-50 and never really looked back to get their second conference win of the season.

                WNCC shot 53 percent for the game, including 59 percent in the second half. The Cougars buried 11 treys in the contest, eight of which came in the first half.

                WNCC, 6-5, will finish up the break next week when they hit the road for two road games Friday and Saturday against Air Force Prep and Ft. Carson. WNCC will then have the holidays off before coming back for a road game against Northwest Kansas Technical College on Jan. 2 in Goodland, Kansas.

                Shahid said they have to keep working hard and build off these two wins.

                "We just have to push the gas pedal through next week," Shahid said. "We have to come back to practice and get better each day and play every possession like it is our last."

Trinidad                37 44 – 81

WNCC (6-5)         47 45 – 92

TRINIDAD

Dominic Coleman 2, Torrance Littles 5, Tykeem Anderson 15, Brandon Newman 18, Rene Melendez 3, Job Alexander 8, Karamoko Cisse 10, Malik Hart 18.

WNCC

Austin Payne 7, Daylon Harris 2, Trent Harris 5, RJ Palmer 13, Vinnie Shahid 23, Michael Connor, Jr., 12, Jalan Brown 4, Marlon Sierra 6, Djodje Dimitrijevic 12, Jeremy Ruffin 6.