The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team picked up the offense against Ft. Carson Army Base in rolling to a 120-85 win Sunday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
The win was the Cougars 15th of the season as the Cougars had three players finish with more than 20 points in the win. In fact, everyone that played scored in the 35-point win.
Vinnie Shahid led the Cougar offense with 25 points, including five 3-pointers. Michael Connor, Jr. finished with 21 points. Trent Harris also had a big night, finishing with 20 points, while Djodje Dimitrijevic finished with 15 points.
Harris said this was a fun game as the team really picked up the offense and shared the ball well. WNCC had 19 assists in the contest, led by four each from Dimitrijevic and Connor.
"It was a different play style because this Ft. Carson team is a run and gun team," the Scottsbluff graduate said. "They get a lot of shots up. We kind of saw that style when we played EWC so we are used to it."
WNCC definitely had to be on with their shooting and they were. WNCC shot 54 percent in the first half and connected on 8 of 16 from beyond the arc. The Cougars were even more lethal in the second half, shooting 58 in the second 20 minutes.
Ft. Carson was also hot in the first half, shooting 53 percent while canning 7 of 13 from beyond the arc. The second half the Gorillas cooled off, shooting just 29 percent and connecting on just 1 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Harris said there are plenty of scorers for WNCC.
"One thing that we can do is score a lot," he said. "Everybody out there can score the ball. We do it every day in practice. But most of the time we like to be disciplined and take good shots. I guess that showed tonight."
While WNCC sizzled the net from the field, they were also spectacular from the free throw line, connecting on 19 of 20 from the charity stripe.
"We have been shooting free throws really well lately," Harris said. "It really has been showing in our games lately because free throws can determine the outcome of a game."
WNCC definitely had to be ready to play against a Ft. Carson team that lost to Eastern Wyoming on Saturday 105-100. Early on Sunday afternoon Ft. Carson showed why, too, as the Gorillas were connecting on several NBA 3-pointers and making plenty of old-fashioned 3-point plays.
With the score knotted at 17, WNCC started to build the lead behind a bucket by Marlon Sierra and then four points from Harris, including the Scottsbluff graduate going coast-to-coast for a bucket. WNCC pushed the lead to 31-20 on 3-pointers by Harris and Shahid.
Ft. Carson fought back in going on a 10-0 run to slice the lead t0 31-30. Both teams traded buckets. With WNCC leading 41-38, that was when the Cougars went on a 10-0 run behind Connor's six points to lead 51-38. WNCC led 60-50 at intermission.
The second half proved to be all WNCC. The Cougars led 71-59 before going on a 8-0 run to lead 79-59 and never looked back after that.
WNCC out-rebounded Ft. Carson 46-33. Connor and Austin Payne each had six boards, while Harris and Shahid each had five.
WNCC also had seven blocks in the game. RJ Palmer, Diamond Onwuka, and Marlon Sierra each had two blocks, while Austin Payne had one.
Ft. Carson had four players in double figures, led by Khris Little with 18 points followed by Edward Kershaw with 17, Paul Benjamin with 13, and Melvin Williams with 30.
WNCC, 15-8, will get bac into Region IX South sub-region action next weekend when they travel to Trinidad State on Friday and Otero on Saturday. Harris said they need to pick it up even more when they go on the road.
"We have to take a lot with us," he said. "We have to bring our game even more because road games are even tougher than home games especially in the region south because every team brings it at home."
Ft. Carson 50 35 – 85
WNCC (15-8) 60 60 – 120
FT CARSON
Khris Little 18, Corey Allen 9, Dominic Quarterman 8, Tonaccio Nelson 4, Cole Lutz 6, Edward Kershaw 17, Melvin Williams 10, Paul Benjamin 13.
WNCC
Austin Payne 8, Trent Harris 20, RJ Palmer 8, Vinnie Shahid 25, Ricards Pinne 5, Diamond Onwuka 5, Michael Connor, Jr. 21, Deshawn Montaque 2, Jalan Brown 2, Marlon Sierra 6, Milos Popovic 3, Djodje Dimitrijevic 15.