Elijah Hollins buried seven 3-pointers as the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team got back on the win track with an 86-72 South Sub-region win over Northeastern Junior College Monday at Cougar Palace.

                Hollins was one of four Cougars in double figures with 25 points including going 7-of-11 from the 3-point arc. Kellon Harris added 16 points while Elijah Burney and Isaiah St. Preux each had 10 points.

                The win moves the Cougars to 9-13 on the season but more importantly pushed the Cougars to 4-2 in sub-region play and trails Lamar Community College for the top spot in the sub-region by percentage points. Lamar is 5-2 in the sub-region. NJC falls to 3-4 in the sub-region.

                Monday's game was a battle as WNCC started slow, trailing 12-9 to the Plainsmen. That was the last time NJC led the rest of the game as the Cougars went on a 13-0 ru that saw Hollins hit two 3-pointers for a 22-12 lead.

                WNCC pushed the lead to 12 points at 27-15 on five straight points from Reece Randolph. NJC battled back to cut the Cougar lead down to three at 32-29. WNCC answered on a Randolph bucket and a Harris 3-pointer for a 37-29 lead. The Cougars then wet on a late 9-0 run to lead 46-33 before settling for a 46-35 lead at intermission

                WNCC came out in the second half and went to work, going on a 14-5 run to lead 60-40 behind two triples from Hollins. NJC scored six straight to make it a 14-point game, but the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to lead 67-46 on a bucket by Elijah Burney, a triple from Hollins, and a bucket by Withold Czerenkiewicz.

                NJC got the Cougar lead to single digits at 69-60, but WNCC immediately pushed it back to double digits as Mathiang Maker got an offensive rebound and dunked the ball home. WNCC led 71-60 and never surrounded the lead back to single digits the rest of the way.

                The game was won from the 3-point arc. WNCC shot 43 percent from behind the arc with 12 triples while NJC was just 33 percent making 4-of-12. The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field while NJC was 44 percent.

                The Plainsmen out-rebounded the Cougars 44-34. Harris and Maker each had five rebounds for WNCC.

                WNCC will return to action this weekend when they hit the road for back-to-back games at Trinidad State and Otero on Friday and Saturday.

NJC                       35 37 – 72
WNCC (9-13)        46 40 – 86
NJC
Quis Davis 13, Ryder McConnell 9, Uwami Chongo 18, Kaamil Domingo 8, Noah Adamczyk 9, Keziah Williams 4, Justin Sapoi 3, Owen Wright 2, Brady Greene 6.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 16, Elijah Hollins 25, Mathiang Maker 7, Elijah Burney 10, Toms Linis 4, Noah Jones 3, Reece Randolph 7, Isaiah St. Preux 10, Dorin Nguema 2, Witold Czerenkiewicz 2.