The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team used a strong second-half performance in registering a come-from-behind 93-82 Region IX South sub-region win over Lamar Community College Friday evening at Cougar Palace.
The win was WNCC's 20th win of the season and gave the Cougars back-to-back 20-win seasons. The last time that happened was back in the 2003-2005 season under Ron Brillhart.
More importantly, though, it kept the Cougars alive to win the South sub-region. WNCC moves to 10-3 in the conference, just a game behind No. 23 Otero Junior College, who moved to 11-2 in conference play with a 99-66 win over Eastern Wyoming College on Friday.
WNCC and Otero will do battle at Cougar Palace Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the Cougars' final home regular season contest.
WNCC head coach Cory Fehringer said this was a big win for his squad as they stayed alive to get that No. 1 seed.
"These boys did what they needed to do tonight and put them in position to have a big game on Saturday at 4-o'clock," he said. "So, if you are out and about and don't have a lot going on, you should be at the Palace because it will be a pretty good rumble tomorrow [Saturday]."
Fehringer was pleased with how his team played in the second half. WNCC erased a 50-45 halftime deficit behind 54 percent shooting from behind the arc. The Cougars outscored Lamar 48-32 in the second half.
"We outscored them 48-32 in the second half and that says a lot about what our identity is than the first half. We just struggled to remember who we are at times when you start to win some games and think things will come a little easy," he said. "In reality, it gets more and more difficult as the year goes along. Also, they are coming into Cougar Palace where they know they have to play hard. In the first half Lamar played harder than us and made more shots. Then, in the second half, we controlled what the game is supposed to be about."
Trent Harris was the spark for the Cougars all night. The sophomore from Scottsbluff led all-scorers with 25 points, including four 3-pointers.
"Trent Harris has been nothing by huge for two years now," Fehringer said. "We are going to miss him at Western Nebraska when his time is up. We always appreciate his effort. He was 6-for-9 from the 2-point field goal and 4-of-7 from the 3-point arc. He comes up with four rebounds. It was a good night for Trent. We also had three other guys in double digits. The ball did move better, but I am not thrilled with our defense and rebounding. That needs to get cleared up in the next 16 hours."
The first half was an offensive slugfest as Lamar erased a 43-37 lead, outscoring the Cougars 13-3 in the final three minutes to hold the five-point advantage at the break.
The second half started out back and forth. Lamar held a 63-58 lead with about 10 minutes to play. That was when WNCC heated up offensively and defensively. Harris nailed three of his treys to put WNCC up 71-63.
The Runnin' Lopes fought back to cut the deficit to 76-73 on a trey by Aaris Bonds. Jervay Green nailed two free throws and then had an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Cougars put the game away on back-to-back 3-pointers by Vinnie Shahid and Harris for an 87-73 lead.
Both teams sizzled the nets. Lamar was 52 percent from the field and 10 of 30 from the 3-point arc, while WNCC finished 52 percent from the field and 12 od 25 from beyond the arc.
WNCC had four players in double figures. After Harris' 25 points, Shahid scored a quiet 17 points followed by 13 from Green and 12 from Marlon Sierra.
Lamar (16-10) 50 32 – 82
WNCC (20-6) 45 48 – 93
LAMAR
Mitchell Ward 2, Richard Cardwell 18, Jack Peck 13, Sam Boone 15, Logan Longo 11, Aaris Bonds 15, Tugay Balyan 8.
WNCC
Trent Harris 25, Bryce Sanchious 7, Vinnie Shahid 17, Marlon Sierra 10, Marko Rajanovic 7, Jervay Green 13, Djodje Dimitrijevic 7, Martin Roub 5.