HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team dropped an 109-91 contest to Northwest Florida State College in a second round game of the NJCAA men's national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, Tuesday night.

              The Cougars end the season with a 27-8 record while Northwest Florida advances to the Elite Eight to face the College of Southern Idaho on Thursday.

              WNCC was staying with the second-seeded Northwest Florida team for much of the first half. WNCC trailed 16-9 early and came fighting back on a Bryce Sanchious 3-pointer. WNCC led 27-24 on a Jervay Green trey, Northwest then went on a 19-2 run to lead 43-29 and led 55-43 at halftime.

              The second half saw Northwest outscore WNCC 54-48. The Cougars trailed by 10, 63-53 on a Martin Roub 3-pointer. The Cougars never could get the game within single digits as Northwest stretched the lead to 70-53.

              WNCC kept hitting shots bur for every shot the Cougars made, Northwest would either hit a shot or make a run of two or three shots. Late in the game, Vinnie Shahid banked in two NBA-range 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough.

              WNCC shot 44.6 percent from the field and connected on 15 of 38 3-pointers. Shahid finished with seven treys, while Green had three and Marlon Sierra two.

              Northwest shot 54 percent from the field and connected on seven treys.

              Northwest out-rebounded WNCC 41-31. Green paced the Cougars on the boards with eight while Roub had seven.

              The big statistic that was the difference in the game was points off turnovers. Northwest picked up 29 points from turnovers while WNCC converted for just seven. The inside game was also huge for Northwest Florida with a 30 point advantage 54-24.

              WNCC put five players in double Shahid led all scorers with 29 points. Shahid also had six assists.           

Green finished with 15 points, while Roub had 12. Sanchious and Sierra each finished with 11 points.

              WNCC will say goodbye to six sophomores next year in Shahid, Sierra, Djordje Dimitrijevic, Milos Popovic, Trent Harris, and Austin Hoffman.

              Other scores in the men's tournament included first-round games on Monday and Tuesday included Barton topping Tyler 86-63, Trinity Valley defeating Baltimore City 54, WNCC beating Holmes 87-73, College of Southern Idaho topping Snead State 119-82, South Plains earning a 91-71 win over Highland, Connors State topping Central Georgia Tech 84-78, Motlow State beating Otero 77-76, and Hutchinson topping Cape Fear 84-60. Second round games played Tuesday saw Barton upend No. 1 Indian Hills 85-83 in overtime, Eastern Florida State beating Trinity Valley 85-80, NW Florida State over WNCC 109-91, and Southern Idaho topping Odessa 103-95.

WNCC (27-8)                   43 48 – 91

NW Florida State (31-2) 55 54 – 109

NW FLORIDA

Derek Funderburk 14, Kelvin Robinson 20, Andres Feliz 24, Tray Boyd 14, Karim Ezzeddine 9, Stanley Davis 2, Jonas Parker 3, Chris Duarte 21, Ludgy Debaut 2.

WNCC

Vinnie Shahid 29, Marlon Sierra 11, Jervay Green 15, Djordje Dimitrijevic 6, Martin Roub 12, Trent Harris 7, Bryce Sanchious 11.