The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team put five players in double figures and put up a huge defensive stand in the final 30 seconds to down the Ft. Collins All-stars 82-77 on Friday at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC's win Friday was a balanced effort with eight players finding the scoring column. Andrew Ramirez led the way with 13 points followed by 11 points each from Daylon Harris, Michael Sparks, and Phil Fayne. Chase Mason chipped in 10 points, including a big two free throws with six seconds left to seal the contest.

                The contest, however, was tight throughout as neither team could put the other team away. Ft. Collins' biggest lead was 53-48 in the second half. WNCC had a couple of big five-point leads, including a 43-38 lead to start the second half and then 78-73 with 2:45 to play on a thundering Tyrell Williams monster dunk and a Mason Smith bucket.

                Even with that five-point lead with under three to play, the All-stars stormed back, slicing the lead to 78076 with 1:36 to play. WNCC answered with a bucket by Phil Fayne with 1:20 to play. Ft. Collins sliced the lead to 80-77 and with under 20 seconds to play, Ft. Collins had possession of the ball and a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer.

                That was when the Cougar defense picked it up. Head coach Russ Beck kept yelling "no threes" and the smothering defense was playing tough. However, with eight seconds left, Ft. Collins turned the ball over in the corner. That was when Mason was fouled with six seconds to play and hit both shots for the win.

                As much as the second half was a dogfight, the first half was even more intense. At first it looked as if WNCC was going to run away with the contest, leading 11-2 on three straight 3-pointers, two from Mason and one from Ramirez. That wasn't the case as Ft. Collins outscored WNCC 24-14 to grab the lead at 26-25 on a Junior Rivera 3-pointer.

                After that both teams went back and forth before Ft. Collins held a 38-36 lead at halftime.

                Ft. Collins out-rebounded the Cougars 53-38. Zerek Knight and Will Bell each had eight boards for the All-stars, while WNCC was led by Mason Smith with seven boards.

                The big key in the game was turnovers as WNCC committed just five turnovers compared to 14 for the All-stars.

                Shooting was equal. The All-stars hit on 37 percent of their shots and 24 percent of the 3-ponters (5-of-21), while WNCC made 41 percent shooting and 29 percent from the arc (5-of-17). Free throw shooting belonged to the All-stars, connecting on 26 of 31 charity tosses for 84 percent compared to 23 of 37 makes for WNCC (62 percent).

                Both teams will be in action Saturday afternoon. Ft. Collins All-stars will face Planet Academy at 1 p.m. followed by WNCC meeting Dawson Community College at 3 p.m. Dawson was a 91-78 winner over Planet Academy earlier on Friday.

Dawson                                41 50 – 91

Planet Acad.       45 33 – 78

DAWSON

Brendon Chevannes 2, Josh Shekel 7, Tyrick Thompson 7, Christian Kappell 23, Evan Jones 11, Kade Osborne 7, Daniel Dhedden 4, Stefan Stubbs 2, Victor Henriquez 8, Riley Jenson 8, JoMarri Gable 12.

PLANET ACADEMY

Isiah Debere 8, D'Andre Simpson 2, Wil Johnson 2, Jachai Taylor 21, Dyrel Johnson 28, Raimon Burt 13, Solomon Hunt 4.

Ft. Collins             38 39 – 77

WNCC (2-0)        36 46 – 82

FT. COLLINS ALL-STARS

Terel Hughes 1, Nick Augustine 9, Junior Rivera 11, Dwight Smith 7, Zerek Knight 32, Zach Gehlhaus 5, Jase Hamsted 2, Greg Vente 10.

WNCC

Daylon Harris 10, Mason Smith 8, RJ Palmer 9, Michael Sparks 11, Chase Mason 10, Phil Fayne 11, Andrew Ramirez 13, Tyrell Williams 9.