Trinidad State Junior College's Chris Smith left Cougar Palace with a big smile on his face after the sophomore guard scored at the buzzer in lifting the Trojans to a come-from-behind win over the Western Nebraska Community College men 76-74 Thursday night.

                It was Trinidad's second straight win, moving the Trojans to 2-1 in South conference play. WNCC drops to 0-2 in the South conference and 8-4 overall.

                Thursday's contest was a game that the Cougars controlled in the first half and much of the second half.

                WNCC never trailed in the first half, leading 39-15 after back-to-back threes by Marquin Walton and Andrew Ramirez. The Cougar men would push the lead to 32-18 on a Chase Mason trey and then led 35-23 on another Walton 3-pointer. The Trojans, however, would outscore WNCC 7-2 in the final four minutes as WNCC held a 39-30 lead at halftime.

                The second half was decided by shooting. WNCC shot 47 percent in the first half and then only shot 40 percent. It was Trinidad's shooting, though, that was the difference. The Trojans shot 44 percent in the first half and then blistered the nets for 59 percent in the second half.

                Still, WNCC played tough, holding a 46-37 lead after a Phil Fayne dunk. WNCC led 52-49 on a Michael Sparks 3-pointer. That was when Trinidad made a mini 7-0 run to slice the lead to 52-51.

                The Cougars bounced back to lead 58-53 on back-to-back buckets after a Fayne offensive putback and then a dunk. Trinidad took its first lead of the game with seven minutes to play at 61-60 on a bucket by Treyvon Andres.

                The Cougars came back to lead 65-61 and led 67-65 late on a Tyrell Williams bucket. After that, it was a back-and-forth contest. WNCC went up 74-72 with 50 seconds to play on a 3-pointer but Trinidad came back and tied it at 74-74.

                WNCC then missed two free throws with 33.9 seconds to play, but WNCC got the rebound and worked the ball for the final shot. WNCC didn't get a shot off and turned the ball over. That was when Williams took the ball with 3.9 seconds to play and drove the baseline for the winning shot.

                The big disparity was fouls as Trinidad was whistled for just 15 fouls and WNCC 25. WNCC was 10 of 14 from the charity stripe while Trinidad was 16 of 27.

                WNCC had three players in double figures, led by Sparks with 14 points. Fayne and Mason Smith each had 11 points.

                The Cougars will look to rebound Saturday when they travel to Cheyenne to face Laramie County Community College in an afternoon contest. WNCC will then wrap up the first semester by hosting North Platte and McCook next weekend.

Trinidad (8-5)                     30 46 – 76

WNCC (8-4)                        39 35 – 74

TRINIDAD

Samuel Egedi 11, Elijah Kess 6, Brandon Newman 3, Yephnick Adelphonse 8, Chris Williams 21, Treyvon Andres 21, Rahsaan Johnson 6.

WNCC

Marquin Walton 8, Mason Smith 11, RJ Palmer 3, Michael Sparks 14, Leon Tomic 3, Michael Connor 7, Bo McVay 2, Chase Mason 3, Phil Fayne 11, Andrew Ramirez 8, Tyrell Williams 4.