TAYLORSVILLE, Utah – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team fell behind early and then used a 19-0 run to open the contest and earn a commanding 109-52 win over Taylormade Prep in the second day of the SLCC Classic Saturday afternoon.

                The Cougars had a balanced scoring attack in getting their third win of the season as three players were in double figures and another three were near double figures.

                Biko Johnson paced the Cougar attack with 18 points with a 5-for-5 performance from the charity stripe, while Dimitrije Nikolic had 16 points and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. CJ Johnson also tallied 13 with two 3-pointers.

                All-in-all, the Cougars shot 56 percent from the field and knocked down eight 3-pointers. CJ Johnson had two while six other players had one 3-pointer.

                WNCC trailed 4-0 and then Rodney Sawyer hit a lay-up to get the Cougars on the board. After that, the Cougars ran off 17 more points including a bucket by Biko Johnson with 15:55 to play in the opening half to lead 19-4. Taylormade stopped the run with 15:37 to play.

                WNCC doubled up Taylormade with two free throws by Biko Johnson with 11:32 to play and kept playing well as they led 58-27 at halftime.

                Sawyer and Carl Thorpe opened the second half with back-to-back buckets and a 62-27 lead. WNCC never let Taylormade get a good run going and pushed the lead to 40 points with 11:02 to play on a Tristin Thomas 3-pointer. Stephen Ovia followed with a dunk  to make it 85-43.

                Daniel Bula put the Cougars over the century mark with 4:29 to play on a lay-up and a 101-46 lead and the Cougars breezed to their third win of the season.

                WNCC shot 56 percent to just 31 percent for Taylormade. The Cougars also had eight 3-pointers to just four for Taylormade. WNCC won the rebound battle 55-28 with Ovia, Thomas, and Zach O'Callaghan all getting seven rebounds.

                WNCC, 3-3, will be back at home Tuesday night when they host Eastern Wyoming College in a women's and men's doubleheader. The women's contest starts at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game to follow.

WNCC                   58 51 – 109

Taylormade        27 25 – 52

WNCC

Rodney Sawyer 7, CJ Johnson 13, Carl Thorpe 5, Daniel Bula 7, Tristin Thomas 8, Dimitrije Nikolic 16, Biko Johnson 18, Ahmari Samuel 9, Stephen Ovia 8, Maurice Walker 7, Sergio Burchell 3, Zach O'Callaghan 8.

TAYLORMADE

Isaiah Baptista 12, Chinedu Nwankwo 4, Kasher Benton 11, Tyreek Dean 8, Cameron Stokes 13, Mykel Simpson 4.