ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team made a run at Western Wyoming Community College Tuesday night in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
In the end, it was the Mustangs that made clutch baskets and free throws to come away with the 70-66 win.
WNCC drops to 2-5 on the season and will be back on the road this weekend when they travel to the CSI Classic in Twin Falls, Idaho. WNCC will face the host team College of Southern Idaho on Friday and Colorado Northwestern on Saturday.
The contest was one where the Cougars started slow, falling behind 15-5 early going and trailed 21-11 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half. That was when the Cougars mounted a comeback as they made it a 2-point game after Isaiah St. Preux nailed a trey.
Western Wyoming came back to take a 32-24 lead only to watch the Cougars made it a 32-30 deficit and a 34-33 Western Wyoming lead at halftime after Kellon Harris nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The second half was back and forth and the Cougars took their first lead of the contest since the opening bucket of the game after Harris buried a 3-pointer with 7:01 to play and a 54-52 lead.
The lead see-sawed between the two teams with Reece Randolph take a 63-61 lead with 3:21 to play on an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Mustangs retook the lead at 65-63 and led 69-66 with 20.7 seconds to play. Mathiang Maker hit two free throws to make it a 69-66 game and that was as close as they got.
WNCC had two in double figures as Maker had 25 points on 10-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Harris also had 10 points with four rebounds, while Randolph had eight points.
WNCC shot 40 percent from the field for the game and were just 38 percent in the first half.
WNCC 33 33 – 66
W. Wyoming 34 36 – 70
WNCC
Kellon Harris 10, Elijah Hollins 6, Mathiang Maker 25, Elijah Burney 6, Kendrick Preston 6, Reece Randolph 8, Isaiah St. Preux 3, Dorin Niguema 2.