The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team had a rough first half in trailing at halftime 45-23 before coming back to outscore the top team in the South Sub-region Trinidad State College Trojans but coming up short as the Trojans escaped with a 70-55 win Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
The win put Trinidad State in the driver's seat to win the South sub-region and a first-round bye in the regional tournament. The loss still has the Cougars in a good position for second and a home-court playoff game for regionals. WNCC drops to 13-11 on the season and 4-3 in conference play while Trinidad moves to 8-0 in conference and 16-7 overall.
WNCC coach Billy Engel said his team kept fighting, but Trinidad is just a solid team.
"Trinidad is really good. There is a reason why they are the best team in the south right now," Engel said. "There is a reason why they are 8-0. They play really hard and they play really fast. They play really unselfish and they are a really difficult team to guard. They are a very good team and they were by far the better team today and we didn't play well enough."
The second-half play was much better as Engel said his team kept battling and fighting, but never could make a big dent into the deficit.
"We definitely showed some fight," Engel said. "We battled and we had some guys that showed that they really cared by making some plays, making a run, and not allowing them to push us around. We definitely found some fight in the second half, but some of that was just a little too late."
The first half dictated the contest as the Trojans ran out to a 16-5 lead before the Cougars made a run behind two field goals by Carl Thorpe and a 3-pointer by Daniel Bula to cut the lead to 16-12. WNCC was still playing strong, trailing 21-15 on a Biko Johnson bucket. After that, the Trojans ignited as they outscored the Cougars 24-8 the rest of the first half to lead 45-23 at intermission.
The second half was a different story as WNCC outscored Trinidad 32-25. WNCC kept inching closer as they cut the deficit to 60-41 on a Thorpe old-fashioned 3-point play and a bucket by Maurice Walker. The Cougars got the lead down to 64-48, before closing out the game on a 7-2 run.
The difference in the game was shooting as Trinidad shot 49 percent from the field and buried five 3-pointers. WNCC shot 37 percent from the field and made just 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.
WNCC had one in double figures as Thorpe had 25 points followed by Bula and Zach O'Callaghan each with seven points.
WNCC has three big sub-region games next week as they try to get the second seed from the south sub-region. WNCC will travel to Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, on Tuesday followed by home games with Lamar Community College on Thursday and then McCook Community College on Saturday.
Engel said those three games are key contests.
"We have three big ones. We have NJC on the road and we have not played them yet," Engel said. "Then we are back at home Thursday and Saturday. We are in control of our own destiny as far as staying in second place. As long as we take care of business, play the way we are supposed to play, play together the way we are supposed to play together, I feel confident we can make a run here to end conference play."
Trinidad (16-7) 45 25 – 70
WNCC (13-11) 23 32 – 55
TRINIDAD
Finn Lilly 10, Jailen Bedford 15, Dejour Reaves 14, Olson Nicholson 2, Titus Washington 7, Kenyon Elliott 3, Chase McWhite 7, Tasontai Brown 2, Keliese Frye 10.
WNCC
Dimitrije Nikolic 6, Biko Johnson 2, Carl Thorpe 25, Daniel Bula 7, Enzo Clouvel-Urie 2, Maurice Walker 6, Zach O'Callaghan 7.