WNCC men's basketball team will be entering the Region IX tournament in Gillette, Wyoming, as one of the teams that could be described as a team to watch.
WNCC enters the tournament after downing McCook Community College in a first-round playoff game at Cougar Palace 107-73 in a game that first-year WNCC head coach described as a complete team effort from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer.
The Cougar men will be one of eight teams at the men's Region IX tournament with hopes of earning the regional title and advancing to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The Cougars will open the quarterfinal action with a game against Northwest College at 5 p.m. Northwest earned a 62-53 win over Central Wyoming College in the first-round.
In other first-round games on March 8 from the South, Otero College upended North Platte Community College 78-72 while Lamar Community College topped Northeastern Junior College 87-78.
The other North first-round games saw Casper College defeat Eastern Wyoming College 98-76 and Laramie County Community College top Western Wyoming Community College 86-81.
Thursday's quarterfinal schedule will have Casper taking on Lamar at 1 p.m., Trinidad State facing Laramie County at 3 p.m., WNCC meeting Northwest College at 5 p.m. and Gillette taking on Otero at 7 p.m.
The semifinals are slated for Friday, March 14 at 5 and 7 p.m. with the championship slated for 3 p.m. on March 15.
It will be the first meeting of the year between WNCC and Northwest. WNCC enters with a 13-16 record while Northwest is 19-11. The two teams did meet a year ago in the Region IX tournament quarterfinals
WNCC is one of the highest scoring teams in Region IX, averaging 91.1 points a contest. At the same time, they are also giving up 93.1 points a contest.
In the playoff win over McCook on March 8, the Cougars played totally different and head coach Roybell Baez said it was one of the most complete games his team has played all year.
"It was the first time all year that we had a complete game," Baez said. "At halftime, they had 41 points, and I said, 'Hey, fellas, if you guys are really serious about winning the tournament, you don't allow them to score 30 points in the second half. They had 33 and we had some guys in there late in the game, but I thought defensively in the second half, that was the best defense we have played all year."
The 73 points that the Cougars allowed in the McCook game is only the sixth time the Cougars have held a team to under 75 points. In those six games, the Cougars are 6-1.
Offensively, the Cougars have scored 100-plus points in three straight games and have hit the century mark WNCC is 6-4. That also means when an opponent scores 100 points, which it has happened in 11 games and WNCC is just 2-9 when their opponent scores in the triple digits on the scoreboard.
While WNCC scores a lot and allows a lot, Northwest is just opposite.
The Trappers average 82.9 points a contest and are allowing just 76.4 points a game. Northwest has scored over 100 points just twice when they beat Laramie County on January 24 106-95 and then Northwest Alumni 113-78 on December 14.
Northwest is 4-4 since February 1 and have scored 90 points just once during that time. That game was against EWC when the Trappers won 90-79 on February 7.
Northwest has four players averaging in double figures. Collin Hayes leads the team at 16.3 points a contest followed by Drew Larson at 15.2 points, Tesloch Thong at 12.4 and Preston Condie at 10.6.
The Trappers have made just 221 3-pointers this season while giving up 284 triples.
WNCC is opposite from Northwest as the Cougars have buried 306 3-pointers this season while only allowing 226 treys. Elijah Hollins leads with 90 threes followed by Kellon Harris with 51 and then Reece Randolph with 40.
WNCC has four players averaging in double digits. Hollins is scoring at 17.9 points a clip followed by Mathiang Maker at 17.6. Harris is averaging 14.5 while Elijah Burney is scoring at 10.3 points.
Hollins has scored double digits in the last 20 games. During that stretch, he had a 27-point game against Otero on February 15. His high game for the year is 31 points in a 102-91 defeat to Gillette College on November 18.
Maker has had five double-doubles during the second semester.
Harris has scored in double digits eight games and two of those eight games the Scottsbluff graduate had a double-double with a 23-point, 11-rebound game against McCook on February 21 and then a 25-point, 11-rebound game against Lamar on February 28.
Harris has netted double figures in 21 of the team's 29 games.
The winner of the WNCC and Northwest game will face the winner of the Gillette and Otero game on Friday at 7 p.m. WNCC is 0-2 against Otero, falling to the Rattlers on the road on February 15 83-72 and also losing to Otero 112-105 at Cougar Palace.
WNCC is 0-2 against Gillette, falling 102-91 at Cougar Palace and then losing 112-83 at Gillette.
WNCC last won the Region IX tournament in 2018 when they defeated Otero in the championship game 86-78 in LaJunta, Colorado.
Last year, WNCC captured the South Sub-region and hosted the regional tournament and made it to the championship game. The Cougars opened the tournament a year ago with a quarterfinal win over Northwest 84-72 followed by an 82-78 win over Casper College before falling to Trinidad State 81-56 in the title contest.
Men's Region IX Tournament
in Gillette, Wyoming
Thursday, March 13
1 p.m. -- Casper vs. Lamar
3 p.m. -- Trinidad vs. LCCC
5 p.m. -- WNCC vs. Northwest
7 p.m. -- Gillette vs. Otero
Friday, March 14
5 p.m. -- Casper/Lamar vs. Trinidad/LCCC
7 p.m. -- WNCC/Northwest vs. Gillette/Otero
Saturday, March 15
3 p.m. -- Championship game.