Gillette, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team put three in double figures and used a strong second half to register the 81-66 win over Williston State College Sunday morning in the Border Wars Invite in Gillette, Wyoming.

                The Cougars and Williston were hooked up in a battle in the first half as WNCC led 41-37 at intermission.

                It was the second half where the Cougars went wild both offensively and defensively, going on a 13-0 run to open a tight ball game in which the Cougars held the Tetons scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half.

                Up until the second half, though, It was a battle as WNCC took a 27-20 lead in the first half behind an offense rebound putback by Carl Thorpe and a 3-pointer by Rodney Sawyer. Williston came back and had the lead trimmed to two points on a couple occasions, Dimitrije Nikolic closed out the first-half scoring with a bucket and the 41-37 halftime lead.

                The second half started as Biko Johnson scored seven of the 13 points that also included a big 3-pointer from Thorpe. Williston finally got on the scoreboard on a 3-pointer with 14:14 to play. WNCC pushed the lead to 19 at 59-40 on a Daniel Bula 3-pointer and led by 20 points at 66-46 after a trey from Maurice Walker and a bucket by Bula.

                Williston State did cut the lead to 14 at 74-60, but Caio Monteiro and Walker had bucket to push the lead back to 78-60 and the Cougars went on to win 81-66.

                WNCC had 11 of the 12 players score in the contest. Thorpe and Walker each had 16 points while Zach O'Callaghan had 11 points. Thorpe had a double-double with 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points.

                Johnson had nine points while Bula had eight points.

                Shooting was about the same on both teams. WNCC shot 42 percent while Williston shot 43 percent. Both teams buried seven 3-pointers. Walker had four treys for the Cougars.

                WNCC won the rebound total 46-37 as Dula had 11 rebounds and Thorpe 10.

                WNCC, 6-4 and winners of three straight, will be back in action this weekend when they host the WNCC Classic on Friday and Saturday. WNCC will face Northwest College on Friday and then Jumpstart Prep Academy on Saturday.

WNCC (6-4)         41 48 – 81
Williston               37 29 – 66
WNCC
Rodney Sawyer 6, CJ Johnson 6, Biko Johnson 9, Carl Thorpe 16, Daniel Bula 8, Dimitrije Nikolic 2, Enzo Clouvel-Urie 2, Maurice Walker 16, Sergio Burchell 2, Caio Monteiro 3, Zach O'Callaghan 11.