The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team buried 11 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough as the Lamar Community College Runnin' Lopes left Cougar Palace with an 80-72 Region IX South Division win.

                The big key in the contest was shooting. WNCC was just 35 percent from the field for the game and 39 percent from beyond the arc (11 of 28). WNCC even had trouble connecting on free throws, making 53 percent (9 of 17).

                Lamar wasn't much better shooting on the night. Lamar hit on 45 percent of their shots and were just 28 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 14).

                However, what did the Cougars in was a four minute scoreless spree in the second half that saw the Cougars 56-52 lead diminish to a Lamar 66-56 lead.

                WNCC was even playing decent in the first half and the start of the second. The Cougars opened up with a 15-6 lead 3-pointers from Michael Connor, Chase Mason and Michael Sparks. Lamar came back to tie the game at 18 before WNCC vaulted to one of its biggest leads of the night at 25-18. Things changed after that as Lamar came back to take a 38-35 lead late. Sparks nailed another free throw and then Phil Fayne hit a free throw with seconds left for a 39-38 halftime lead.

                WNCC came out in the second half hot, running to a 43-38 lead. That was when Lamar got hot and WNCC started to cool off as the Runnin' Lopes went on an 8-0 run for a 46-43 lead. WNCC bolted back to retake the lead on a Sparks 3-pointer with 12:58 to play and later led 56-52 with 10:19 to play.

                For the next four minutes, Lamar did the scoring and WNCC couldn't buy a bucket for the 10-point Lamar lead. WNCC got the lead to five points with 29.7 seconds to play on a Mason trey, but that was as close as they could get.

                WNCC had three players in double figures, led by Sparks with 21 points and five 3-pointers. Mason finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Fayne had 14 points and seven boards.

                Lamar was led by Chris Lewis with 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Wayne Steeart had 17 points.

                WNCC, 16-11 overall, drops to 6-9 in South play. Lamar moves to 7-6 in South play and 16-10 overall. WNCC will next be in action with two home games next week. The Cougars will host Eastern Wyoming College in the final South Conference game on Thursday, before playing the Northern Colorado All-stars on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a game that was added this week.

Lamar (16-10)                    38 42 – 80

WNCC (16-11)                    39 33 – 72

LAMAR

Joe Dunmyer 10, Chris Lewis 17, Michael Skinner 9, Wayne Stewart 17, Lynrick Moxey 7, Taylor Shephard 9, Jerome LaNeir 11.

WNCC

Daylon Harris 5, Michael Sparks 21, Michael Connor 5, Derrick Bowers 4, Chase Mason 17, Phil Fayne 14, Tyrell Williams 4.