STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team trailed by 15 points in the second half before coming back to grab a late 76-75, but the Northeastern Junior College men hung on with some clutch free throws to earn the 83-81 win Tuesday night in Sterling, Colorado.

                Things got really tight for the second seed in the Region IX South standings after Tuesday night's play. WNCC drops to 13-12 overall and they are now 4-4 in sub-region play. Otero is also 4-4 and NJC moved to 4-4 with the win. McCook Community College also moved to 4-4 with a win over North Platte for a four-way tie.

                The Cougars will have two home games this week when they host Lamar Community College on Thursday followed by McCook Community College Saturday afternoon.

                The first half was a battle between the two teams as WNCC led 9-7 on a five straight points by Carl Thorpe. NJC came back to lead 13-11, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Stephen Ovia put WNCC back on top 14-13.

                The Plainsmen then came back to lead 19-14 and later 24-14. The Cougars sliced the lead deficit to 24-21 and trailed 31-25 on a Zach O'Callaghan bucket. NJC led at halftime 45-33.

                The second half saw the Plainsmen run out to a 57-39 lead and led 71-56 with eight minutes to play. That was when WNCC changed gears and fought back to cut the deficit to four points on two Maurice Walker 3-pointers and two O'Callaghan free throws.

                WNCC took their first lead in the game since early in the first half when they went on a 7-0 run and led 76-75 on a Walker trey. NJC came back to up 81-76 and led 82-78 with 41.1 seconds to play.

                WNCC cut the lead to a single point when CJ Johnson nailed a trey with 19.3 seconds to play, but miscues and a key free throw by NJC with seven seconds to play gave the Plainsmen the win as a Johnson 3-pointer at the buzzer hit the rim and bounced away.

                WNCC shot 44 percent from the field and made 8-of-28 3-pointers. WNCC was 21-of-27 from the charity stripe.

                WNCC had two in double figures with Thorpe leading the way with 26 points followed by Walker with 16.

WNCC                   33 48 – 81

NJC                        45 38 – 83

WNCC

CJ Johnson 8, Carl Thorpe 26, Daniel Bula 6, Enzo Clouvel-Urie 3, Biko Johnson 2, Ahmari Samuel 7, Stephen Ovia 5, Maurice Walker 16, Zach O'Callaghan 8.