TORRINGTON, Wyo. – Trent Harris and Vinnie Shahid combined for 55 points and 12 3-pointers as the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team captured their 20th win of the season with a 105-89 win over Eastern Wyomng College Saturday evening in a Region IX South Sub-region contest.
Shahib and Harris each had six 3-pointers on the night. Shahib led all scorers with 30 points, while Harris popped in 25 points to lead the Cougars to an important sub-region win. WNCC is now 20-10 overall but more importantly tied with Lamar for second in the South sub-region with 11-5 marks. Laramie County won the South sub-region and earned the top seed with a 12-4 sub-region record.
Saturday's win was totally offensive as both WNCC and EWC battled in the first half. WNCC shot 41 percent in the first half while EWC shot 43 percent. The Lancers held a 40-38 lead late in the first half when WNCC went on a 10-2 run to lead 48-42 at the half.
Late in the half, Harris caught fire, burying three 3-pointers and scoring 10 points.'
The second half was back and forth early on but the Cougars started to pull away. WNCC led 59-52 and then shifted things into a different gear to lead 69-57. WNCC went up by 20, 59-59 on two 3-pointers.
The Cougars were on their way to scoring 100 points as they pushed the lead to 88-62 on a trey from Harris and a 2-point bucket by Shahid. That was when both teams cranked up the offense. WNCC led 95-68 before Gering's Grant Olsson buried a trey. WNCC went over the century mark when RJ Palmer nailed a 3-pointer with 2:12 to play and never looked back.
The Cougars not only outshot EWC, but they also out-rebounded them.
WNCC shot 53 percent from the field and connected on 15 of 28 3-pointers. EWC shot 42 percent for the game and were just 11 of 28 from beyond the arc.
The Cougars also cleaned the glass for 48 rebounds to just 31 for EWC> Marlon Sierra had 11 boards to go with his 11 points.
WNCC also had plenty of scoring as six players hit for double digits.
After Shahid's 30 and Harris' 25, Palmer finished with 15, while Sierra, Djodje Dimitrijevic and Jeremy Ruffin finishing with 10.
EWC was led in scoring by Olsson with 23 points including knocking down four 3-pointers.
The Lancers also got 19 from Walker Korell, 17 from Petar Skoknic, and 10 from Jordan Mirich.
WNCC will next be in action this weekend when they host a first-round playoff game. The top four teams host the four bottom teams in the South and North sub-region with the winners advancing to the Region IX tournament in Gillette, Wyoming, March 9-11.
WNCC 48 57 -- 105
EWC 42 47 – 89
WNCC
Trent Harris 25, RJ Palmer 15, Vinnie Shahid 30, Michael Conor 2, Deshawn Montaque 1, Marlon Sierra 11, Djodje Dimitrijevic 11, Jeremy Ruffin 10.
EWC
Grant Olsson 23, Trey Schroefel 9, Walker Korell 19, Jordan Mirich 10, Wil Osborn 3, Petar Kooknic 17, Daniel Wright 2, Jovan Elezovic 6.