The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team entered the Region IX basketball tournament at Cougar Palace having not played in three weeks.

                Thursday night in the quarterfinals, the Cougar men earned a trip to the semifinals with a workmanlike performance in downing Northwest College 84-72. WNCC will face Casper College in the semis on Friday at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Casper was a 92-82 winner over Otero College.

                The other half of the bracket saw Gillette College down McCook Community College 99-72, while Trinidad State College defeated Laramie County Community College 93-79. Trinidad and Gillette will face each other at 5 p.m. in the other semifinal.

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said his team played OK considering they last played February 23.

                "That is what we needed to do to get a post-season win against Northwest and that was play team basketball," Engel said. "I am proud of our guys with how they were able to stick through a little bit of that rustiness after three weeks off. We just hung in there and found a way to get a stop, found a way to get a rebound, and found a way to score a bucket and make it in transition. It wasn't always pretty, wasn't always great on the class, wasn't good offense, but to get a post-season win after three weeks off. I am pretty proud of our guys to do that."

                WNCC led from start to finish in the win and put five players in double figures. Kayden Nation and JJ Harris led the way with 17 points each while Anthony Simo and Willie Wilson each had 14 and Travis Easterly, Jr., had 12 points.

                Engel said a lot of people scored at different times.

                "There is a lot of talent on the team and the more we share the ball, the more of those talented guys have scoring opportunities," he said. "The more the ball moves, the more the defense has to work, and the more of our talent gets to attack against defenders that have already been moving and had to adjust. I am happy that we shared the ball and have balanced scoring."

                WNCC led 35-37 at halftime and outscored Northwest 49-45 in the second half. Engel said Friday night they will need to be on the top of their game when they face a talented Casper squad at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace.

                "Casper is an incredible talented team," he said. "They can make an argument if they aren't but maybe one of the most talented team in our entire region. It will take a heck of a team effort tomorrow (Friday) and it will take a lot on the defensive side of the ball, it will take a lot on the glass. We are going to have to share the basketball again and get some really open looks. We have to do it for 40 minutes because they are not going to lay down and give us anything. We will really have to show up and compete and see what we are made of."

                WNCC had to compete and withstand little runs by Northwest all night long. WNCC led 10-4 early in the first and pushed the lead to nine points at 27-16. The Cougars went up 34-22 on a Harris 3-pointer and led 34-27 at halftime.

                The second half saw WNCC go up 50-39 on a Simo dunk, but the Trappers cut the lead to six, 55-49. WNCC came back and went up 60-49 only to watch Northwest cut the deficit to three points on a dunk by Kolter Merritt. WNCC responded with a 9-0 run to go up 71-59 and kept the lead around 10 points the rest of the game.

                WNCC shot 41 percent for the game while Northwest shot 39 percent. WNCC had 13 3-pointers while Northwest buried 12. Free throws were also practically even with WNCC making 13-of-17 while Northwest was 12-of-17.

                WNCC won the rebound battle 39-34 with Simo and Harris getting six rebounds each.

                Northwest had two players in double figures with Colin Hayes getting 23 while Preston Condie getting 11.

                In other action in the quarterfinals at Cougar Palace, WNCC's semifinal opponent had a battle with Otero in the first half as the Rattlers led 25-24 before the Thunderbirds went ona 11-0 run to go up 35-25 and led 54-38 at halftime.

                Casper had four in double figures led by Abdul Bashir with 23 points, including four 3-pointers. Casper also got 17 from Josh Ijeh, 15 from Jaden Peters, and 14 from Darius Robinson.

                Otero was led by Tay Mosher with 20 points followed by Antony Harris with 17, LaSon Walker with 16, and Felipe Carter with 10.

                The first two games of the day saw Trinidad State in a battle with Laramie County as the Golden Eagles out-shot Trinidad 43 percent to 34 percent. LCCC also buried four triples compared to just two for Trinidad. The difference in the game was rebounding where Trinidad won that battle 52-48. Trinidad also had eight blocked shots.

                LCCC stayed with the Trojans as they led at halftime 38-36. LCCC led 43-40 early in the second half before the Trojans started scoring and going up 57-47 with 12:40 to play. LCCC came back to cut the deficit to just six points at 76-70 on a bucket by Jordan Reed. With the score at 82-77, Trinidad closed out the game on an 11-2 run for the win.

                Trinidad was led by Lateef Patrick with 32 points while Keliese Frye had 17 points with 11 rebounds. Devin Davenport also had 11 points. LCCC was led by Abdullah Mahamed and Reed each with 19 points followed by Phoenix Bullock with 13 and Ejay Scroggins with 11.

                Trinidad will face Gillette after the Pronghorns put seven in double figures and had to use a couple key runs to run past McCook in the other quarterfinal game. Gillette led 50-27 at halftime and led 60-36 early in the second half on a bucket by Jahki Gupton and really never looked back.

                Gillette shot 48 percent from the field and made eight 3-pointers while holding McCook to 29 percent shooting. The Indians made just six 3-pointers. McCook did out-rebound Gillette 52-51.

                Gillette had seven in double figures, led by Gupton with 17 points followed by Jaden Witter-Watts with 15. Three players had 12 points each with Andrew Fuquay, Caleb Hollenbeck, and Eman Lawal. Dorell Thomas had 11 points followed by Bouna Kebe with 10.

                McCook was led by Brandon Kabuya-Mpoyi with 19 points followed by Ty Foster with 17 and Bryan Akanmu with 12. Akanmu also had a double-double with 11 rebounds.

LCCC                    38 41 – 79
Trinidad               36 57 – 93
LCCC
Phoenix Bullock 13, Pedro Ellery 3, Ejay Scroggins 11, Jordan Reed 19, Justin Daniels 4, Davion Butler 8, Michael Amako 2, Abdullah Mahamed 19.
TRINIDAD
Keliese Frye 17, Amir Reeves 6, Chase McWhite 9, Lateef Patrick 32, Titus Washington 2, Kenyon Elliott 2, Finn Lilly 8, Wahkil Lopez 6, Devin Davenport 11.

McCook              27 45 – 72
Gillette                50 49 – 99
MCCOOK
Martel Evans 8, Ty Foster 17, Zeki Cavli 2, Louie Tucker 8, Bryan Akanmu 12, Ridley Shema 6, Brandon Kabuya-Mpoyi 19.
GILLETTE
Jaden Witter-Watts 15, Bouna Kebe 10, Andrew Fuquay 12, Jahki Gupton 17, Caleb Hollenbeck 12, Sam Lufuluabo 2, Dorell Thomas 11, Eman Lawal 12, Ali Sakho 8.  

Otero                    38 44 – 83
Casper                 54 38 – 92
OTERO
Isaiah Poindexter 2, Rhoman Eyere 3, Elijah McNeil 6, LaSon Walker 16, Ty Burbank 2, Felipe Carter 10, Tay Mosher 20, Jamir Todd 2, Keylane Lasisi 2, Antony Harris 17, Jamie Rivers 2.
CASPER
Jimma James 6, Kuon Kuon 3, Malyk Rebetez 5, Darius Robinson 14, Abdul Bashir 23, Josh Ijeh 17, Nate Sasser III 9, Jaden Peters 15.

Northwest         27 45 – 72
WNCC                 35 49 – 84
NORTHWEST
Milton Rodriguez-Santana 7, Will Hemme 7, Tesloch Thong 4, Preston Condie 11, Kolter Merritt 7, Drew Larson 6, Colin Hayes 23, Kaden Christensen 23, Isaiah Halverson 7.
WNCC
JJ Harris 17, Maurice Walker 2, Anthony Simo 14, Willie Wilson 14, Travis Easterly, Jr. 12, Stephen Ovia 4, Elijah Burney 2, Daniel Bula 2, Kayden Nation 17.