The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team fell short in their South Sub-region opener, falling to McCook Community College 69-65 in a hard-fought and defensive contest Friday evening at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC falls to 10-5 on the season and will have little time to rest as they will head to Torrington, Wyoming, Sunday afternoon to face Eastern Wyoming College.

                Friday's contest was one where the Cougar men only scored 26 second-half points in the defeat. Despite that, though, the contest was one that both teams had missed opportunities. McCook just hit enough in the final two minutes to get the win.

                The men's game was one that came down to the final seconds. WNCC started strong in the first half running to a 13-2 lead on 3-pointers by Biko Johnson, Carl Thorpe, and Carter Brown. The Cougars led 20-9 and later at 24-14 on a Rodney Sawyer trey.

                That was when WNCC went cold from the field and McCook went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 24-24 on a free throw by Ezichi Kalu with 10 minutes to play. WNCC went back up by six at 39-33 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Brown and held a 39-37 lead at halftime.

                The second half saw WNCC lead 47-41 on a Thorpe bucket. McCook came back to lead 51-47 on a Julian Lual bucket. The game went back and forth as the game was tied at 57-57 before WNCC went up 59-57 on a Thorpe bucket. McCook went back in front at 62-59 on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Kalu and then two free throws by Damien Perry. WNCC tied the game at 63-63 on a bucket by Thorpe with 3:41 to play.

                McCook took a 66-63 lead on an old-fashioned 3-point play from DaMiene Boles with 1:49 to play. The Indians went up by four at 67-63 on a free throw by Perry. WNCC cut the lead to 67-65 on a bucket by Agwa Nywesh, but two free throws with 2.9 seconds left sealed the win for McCook.

                WNCC had two in double figures, led by Nywesh with 17 and Biko Johnson with 16. Thorpe and Brown each had nine points while Turumbil Zaki had eight.   

                Both teams shot about the same. WNCC was 39 percent from the field and 38 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-24). McCook was just 43 percent from the field and only 17 percent from the 3-point line (3-of-16).

                The difference in the game came down to free throw shooting. McCook was 20-of-28 from the line while WNCC was 16-of-23.

                McCook won the rebound total 37-33 and also won the blocked shots total 6-4.

Men's Game

McCook               37 32 – 69

WNCC   39 26 – 65

WNCC

Carter Brown 9, Rodney Sawyer 5, Biko Johnson 16, Carl Thorpe 9, Agwa Nywesh 17, Turumbil Zaki 8, Mamadou Sow 1.

MCCOOK

Julian Lual 17, Damien Perry 13, DeMiene Boles 8, Beni Fungula 5, Ezichi Kalu 16, D'Andre Dennis 6, Trey Summers 2, Martin Poznanovic 2.