TRINIDAD, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team had a late 14-0 run and then held on to defeat Trinidad State College 77-76 in a South Sub-region contest Friday in Trinidad, Colorado.
The win was WNCC's 10th straight and moves the Cougars to 21-8 on the season, but more importantly to 10-1 in sub-region play with one sub-region game left, but that game Tuesday night won't be played and WNCC gets the win.
Tuesday night was supposed to be sophomore recognition night and it still will be as the Cougar men sophomores will be recognized at halftime of the WNCC and Lamar women's basketball game.
With the win, WNCC will be hosting the regional tournament that will be played March 14-16. In the meantime, the Cougars will have three weeks between games to prepare and get healed up, according to men's coach Billy Engel.
"We now get rested and get ourselves healed up and we get a long wait now for the tournament because our Tuesday night game against Lamar will be a forfeit victory," Engel said. "We have a lot of time to rest and heal up, and to work on ourselves and go through a lot of film, get back to practice, and probably get back to the weightroom, and get ready for tournament time."
It has been 12 years since WNCC last hosted the men's regional tournament and Engel said that is something special.
"It means a lot to host regionals and probably one of the best rewards you can get for having a good regular season," Engel said. "Making the national tournament and winning a post-season championship has a lot to do with playing your best basketball at the right time. But, for these young men to have battled in January and February and put together a conference regular season in the way these kids have, is a really good reward that we get to play the tournament at home."
The other thing that stands out about this team is they have now won 10 straight games, which Engel said is a credit to the players.
"We have some good momentum (heading into regionals) and we have some talented young men that do believe in each other and made ways to make plays for each other," he said. "When we stay together, we are a tough team to beat."
The win Friday was a team win as the Cougars had to battle back from eight and 10-point deficits. Engel said he is proud of the guys how they battled back and played well down the stretch.
"We had to play strong and we had to play together," Engel said. "We had a lot of moments where we could have broken apart and gone our separate ways and pointed fingers when Trinidad went on a couple different runs, but we made choices to stick together, showing up for each other. Minute-by-minute, possession-by-possession, the guys found ways to make plays. I am just so proud of them for sticking together through it all. There was a lot of tough moments and a lot of moments with our backs against the wall and the guys kept on fighting. Together is the best way that I can describe the win."
It was a contest of runs by both teams and the biggest run came from WNCC with five minutes to play when WNCC trailed 67-57 and then 68-60 with under five minutes to play. That was when the Cougars went on a 14-0 run and held Trinidad scoreless for four minutes as they built a 74-68 lead before Trinidad scored with 51.3 seconds left.
WNCC went up 76-70 with about 45 seconds left. Trinidad hit a 3-pointer with 37.2 seconds left. Neither team scored on their next possession. With 11.9 seconds left, WNCC was looking for a shot to seal the game, but turned the ball over. Trinidad inbounded the ball and called a timeout as soon as the ball crossed halfcourt with 7.5 seconds.
On the inbounds play, Travis Easterly, Jr., got a steal and was fouled. Easterly, Jr., hit one of two free throws with 4.7 left. Trinidad came down and buried a 3-pointer with .2 seconds left and WNCC inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.
Engel said the last five minutes of the game saw the Cougars play strong defense and hit clutch shots to get back into the contest.
"We got to a point there where the deficit was double digits and then we got it down to eight and then down to seven," Engel said. "A couple scores didn't feel like it was going to do a lot for us, but, out of nowhere, we got a fast-paced bucket and a lay-up and I thought we back in business. We forced them to call a timeout. It is funny of how making a couple quick plays can put a lot of believe in ourselves."
WNCC was out-shot in the contest, shooting 38 percent from the field and making just 7-of-28 3-point shots. Trinidad shot 45 percent from the field and connected on 10 treys. WNCC won the free throw battle, hitting 16-of-20 while Trinidad was just 12-of-16.
The Cougars also out-rebounded the Trojans 39-36, with JJ Harris pulling down 13 rebounds followed by nine from Anthony Simo.
WNCC had three in double figures. Willie Wilson finished with 25 points with three 3-pointers followed by 15 from Harris. Easterly, Jr., had 10 points and was 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
WNCC will have one more game left with Lamar Community College coming to Cougar Palace for sophomore recognition night. That game will only be a women's game now beginning at 5:30 p.m. as the Cougar women will recognize their six sophomores. The sophomore men will be recognized at halftime of the women's contest since the men's game won't be played.
WNCC (21-8) 33 44 – 77
Trinidad State 31 45 – 76
WNCC
JJ Harris 15, Maurice Walker 6, Willie Wilson 25, Travis Easterly, Jr., 10, Stephen Ovia 3, Anthony Simo 9, Elijah Burney 2, Kayden Nation 7.
TRINIDAD
Keliese Frye 9, Lateef Patrick 20, Titus Washington 11, Kenyon Elliott 8, Finn Lally 10, Chase McWhite 10, Wahkil Lopez 4, Devin Davenport 4.