WNCC men’s basketball rally falls short to Otero

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team found themselves by 17 points with about six minutes to play and made a furious rally, just falling short against Otero Junior College 98-93 Sunday afternoon at Cougar Palace in a south sub-region contest.

WNCC head coach Billy Engel said his team has plenty of fight, but said they need to avoid other teams from getting big leads.

“Anybody that has watched us play can walk away and say that these kids play hard and they compete,” Engel said. “They never give up and that is something to be proud of, but it has been an issue of ours all year that we don’t turn the switch early enough. Most of the year we talk about we are young and have a lot of freshmen, but at the end of the year we are going to get beat like that when we don’t have it going and try to make a comeback late. But, it is a good humble pie for us going into the post season.”

The contest was definitely an offensive contest on both sides. WNCC shot 48 percent from the field and were 13 of 30 from beyond the arc. Otero shot a little higher, above 50 percent each from the field and beyond the arc. Otero was 58 percent from the field and 52 percent from the 3-point arc (12 of 23).

Otero had six players in double figures for the game, including their leading scorer Lonnell Martin with 27. Martin only had four points at halftime, but finished with seven 3-pointers.

WNCC had four players in double figures. Chase Thompson led the way with 24 points, including going 10 of 14 from inside the arc. Tyler Mack also had 18 points with four treys, while Carter Brown had 17 points with five treys. Agwa Nywesh tallied 15 points on the day.

The entire game was a game of runs by both teams. Otero started the game as they trailed 5-2, but went on a 10-0 run to lead 12-5 and later led 16-7. The Rattlers led 18-9 before WNCC went on an 8-0 run with a trey by Brown and five points from Koang.

WNCC tied the game at 24 on a bucket by Thompson with 8:40 to play in the first half. WNCC never could get the lead as the teams traded bucket back and forth. Otero grabbed a 43-37 lead with under a minute to play in the half but WNCC’s Issad Solano picked up the defense and scored two straight buckets as the Cougars trailed 43-41 at halftime.

The second half is where the Cougars started slow as Otero came out on fire, hitting practically every basket they shot in grabbing a 58-46 lead. Otero pushed the lead to 71-57. Brown and Mack hit back-to-back treys to bring the Cougars back to withing eight, but Otero responded with another run to go up 83-70 with about five minutes to play.

WNCC then picked up the intensity and made the game very interesting. The late run started as Mack hit a trey. Otero answered as they led 93-77 with just under four minutes to play. WNCC sliced the lead to single digits as Nywesh and Mack made back-to-back treys to bring WNCC to within 93-84.

The Rattlers hit a bucket and then the Cougars started to rain in treys as Nywesh nailed a trey followed by a trey by Brown with 43 seconds to play to bring WNCC to within five, 95-90. Otero hit two free throws, but WNCC’s Brown nailed his fifth trey of the game with 26 seconds to play to make it 97-93. Otero hit one free throw with 25.7 seconds and WNCC couldn’t get any closer.

WNCC will close out the regular season on Tuesday when they host North Platte Community College at 6 p.m. The Cougar women will play in the first game of the day on Tuesday when the Lady Cougars host Otero Junior College at 4 p.m.

After that, the Cougars will turn to the post season as they will either host or travel for a first-round play-in game next weekend. The Region IX tournament start April 8 at the site of the North champion, which could be either Laramie County Community College or Eastern Wyoming College. Both those teams play Monday night in Torrington.

Engel said he is watching the conference race a little bit, but it doesn’t matter who they play because the post-season is taking one game at a time.

“I am taking a glance and seedings a little bit, but I am trying to keep the guys focused on handling one day at a time,” he said.

 

Otero                    43 55 – 98

WNCC                   41 52 – 93

OTERO

Kyrie Thomas 2, Amiri Young 4, Dwayne Chester 2, Rodney Mason 2, Aman Measho 13, Tommy Kamarad 10, Ryan Stowers 11, Lonnell Martin 27, Porter Anderson 16, AC Curry 11.

WNCC

Carter Brown 17, Chase Thompson 24, Tayler Johnson 3, Tyler Mack 18, Agwa Nywesh 15, Issad Solano 9, Them Koang 7

Trinidad tops WNCC in doubleheader

                It was a wild Sunday at Cleveland Field between the baseball squads of Western Nebraska Community College and Trinidad State Junior College.

                The two teams combined for 49 runs and 55 hits. The two squads also combined for 12 home runs in the doubleheader, but it was Trinidad State that earned the doubleheader Empire Conference sweep over the Cougars.

                The first game saw 28 runs scored between the two, including a grand slam from each team as the Trojans came back for a 15-13 win. The second contest was just as wile. Trinidad led from start to finish, but WNCC had a seventh-inning rally that came up one run short as the Trojans won the game 11-10.

                The first game saw both teams hit the ball hard as each team had 14 hits. Trinidad had three home runs and three doubles. WNCC finished with five home runs and two doubles.

                Trinidad started the offense with six runs in the first, including a grand slam from the fourth batter. Trinidad State then added two more runs for a 6-0 lead.

                WNCC was just as productive. Luis Alcantara hammered a solo home run to put the Cougars on the board. Then Jayden Orozco walked followed by a single by Matt Womack with two outs. Felton followed with a run-scoring single. Womack scored on a passed ball to make it 6-3 followed by Felton scoring on a wild pitch to make it 6-4.

                Trinidad scored one run in the second on two outs, but WNCC came back to added two in the second and single runs in the third and fourth to grab an 8-7 lead.

                The second inning saw Alcantara hammer his second home run, this time a 2-run shot to bring the score to 7-6.

                WNCC tied the game with a single run in the third as Caleb Coats doubled and scored on a Alcantara 2-out single. The Cougars took the lead in the fourth as Felton had a 2-out home run to make the score 8-7.

                Trinidad came back with four runs of their own in the fifth to hold a 11-8 lead. It was short-lived as WNCC plated five runs in the fifth of their own. JT Cafferty led off with a home run. Riley Schanaman followed with a single and Coats walked. Alcantara loaded the bases by reaching on an error. That set up Jordan Rollins, who blasted a grand slam to put the Cougars up 13-11 with no outs.

                The Cougars held the lead until the seventh when Trinidad added another four runs to take a 15-13 lead, scoring all four runs with two outs.

                WNCC had a chance in the seventh. Orozco and Womack earned free passes to get on base, but a double play ended the game, giving the Trojans the win.       

                WNCC had three players that had two or more hits. Alcantara and Felton led the way with three hits each. Alcantara had two home runs, three runs scored, and for RBIs, while Felton had a home run, two runs scored, and two RBIs.

                Schanaman also had two hits with a run scored.

                Dawson Hurford started the game and went 4 2/3 innings in allowing 11 runs and 11 hits. Hurford struck out three. Owen Vantillo took the loss, going 2 1/3 innings in allowing three hits, four runs and striking out four.

                The second game saw Trinidad lead from start to finish after scoring four runs in the first and adding two runs each in the second, third, and fourth inning to grab an 10-4 lead.

                WNCC scored one run in the first as Rollins had a lead-off home run. The Cougars then plated three runs in the third to cut the lead to 8-4. Quinn McCafferty singles and scores on a Felton double for the first run of the third. Alcantara then walked. Felton scored on a wild pitch for the third run of the game and then Alcantara scored on a Womack 2-out single.

                Trinidad answered with two in the fourth, but WNCC answered those two runs with two in the fifth to cut the deficit to 10-6. WNCC’s fifth-inning runs all came with two outs as Felton walked and then Olson hit a towering, no-doubt 2-run home run.

                Trinidad led 11-6 going into the seventh and that is where things got interesting. Rollins led off with a double. Rollins scored on a Alcantara double. Olson than made it 11-9 as he hit a 2-run home run. Womack kept the hopes alive with a single. Coats then reached base on a hard-hit grounder. Jack Jones then singled in Womack to make it 11-10. With the tying run on second, WNCC however, couldn’t get the tying or winning run in to fall to the Trojans.

                WNCC had 13 hits in the contest with five players getting multiple hits. Olson led the way with two home runs with four RBIs and two runs scored. Rollins, Felton, Womack, and Jones all had two hits. Rollins had a home run and double, while Alcantara and Felton finished with doubles.

                WNCC, 13-14, will be back in action Friday and Saturday when they travel to Lamar Community College to face the Lopes in an Empire Conference contest.

 

Game 1

Trinidad                610 040 4 – 15 14 1

WNCC                   421 150 0 – 13 14 1

LP – Owen Vantillo.

2B – Caleb Coats, Joey Olson.

HR – Luis Alcantara 2, JT Cafferty, Michael Felton, Jordan Rollins.

 

Game 2

Trinidad                422 201 0 – 11 14 1

WNCC                   103 020 4 – 10 13 0

LP – Paul Panduro.

2B – Luis Alcantara, Michael Felton, Jordan Rollins.

HR – Joey Olson 2, Jordan Rollins