MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team let a win slip through their fingertips Saturday afternoon against McCook Community College.

                McCook overcame a 21-point second half deficit in registering a 109-108 overtime win in a Region IX South conference contest.

                The loss was the second straight for the Cougars after dropping a heartbreaking 69-67 loss to North Platte on Friday.

                The both teams had plenty of offense in the contest. Early on, though, the Cougars had the defense to go along with their offense. The first half saw McCook grab an early 16-11 lead only to watch WNCC go on a 15-3 run behind the hot shooting from Djodge Dimitrijevic and Trent Harris to lead 26-11.

                WNCC kept the hot shooting going, shooting 58 percent in the first half, including draining nine 3-pointers. Harris had the hot hand, scoring 21 of his game-high 23 points in the first half.

                WNCC, with that hot shooting raced to a 57-46 halftime lead.

                The Cougars started the second half saw WNCC continue its hot play as Dimitrijevic and Michael Connor, Jr., had back-to-back treys to open the half and the Cougars led 65-46. The Cougars kept McCook at bay, holding an 84-63 lead on back-to-back buckets by RJ Palmer with about nine minutes to play.

                That was when McCook slowly came back, but the Cougars still stayed in control, holding a 97-84 lead with two minutes to play. The last couple minutes was all McCook as they went on a 14-1 run that included the Indians nailing a 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds to play in regulation to tie the game at 98.

                The overtime period saw WNCC jump to a 103-100 lead and led 107-104. McCook tied the game at 107 before Marlon Sierra converted on one of two free throws to put the Cougars up by one. Late in the game, McCook got a steal on the baseline and after two misses, converted a putback to go ahead with seven seconds to play. WNCC had a chance at the winning shot, but the shot wouldn't go down.

                WNCC had three players finish with more than 20 points. Harris led WNCC with 23 points, including burying 5 of 7 3-pointers while also pulling down six rebounds. Palmer and Dimitrijevic each had 22 points. Palmer was a perfect 5 of 5 from the charity stripe, while Dimitrijevic connected on four 3-pointers.

                Also finishing in double figures was Jeremy Ruffin with 12 and Connor with 10.

                The Cougars shot 50 percent for the game while McCook shot 44 percent. Both teams shot lights out from the free throw line. WNCC was 22 of 25 from the stripe for 88 percent, while McCook was 23 of 26 for 89 percent.

                WNCC buried 14 3-pointers to eight for McCook. Harris had five treys, Dimitrijevic had four and Connor had two.

                WNCC, 9-7, will look to get back on the winning track when they host Northeastern Junior College on Friday and No. 13 NJCAA-ranked Lamar Community College on Saturday.

WNCC                   57 41 10 – 108

McCook               46 52 11 – 109

WNCC
Vinnie Shahid 9, Michael Connor 10, Djodje Dimitrijevic 22, Jeremy Ruffin 12, Trent Harris 23, RJ Palmer 22, Diamon Onwuka 3, Marlon Sierra 9.