GILLETTE, Wyo. – A day after beating Casper by 20 points, the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team allowed two big second-half runs to allow Gillette College to register the 94-84 win on Thursday in Gillette, Wyoming.

The Cougars drop to 4-11 on the season and will return home for four home games in an eight-day period. The Cougars start the home game day competition Saturday when Northeastern Junior College comes to Cougar Palace for a 3 p.m. contest.

After that, the Cougars will face Dawson Community College on Monday, followed by Lamar Community College on Wednesday, and then Southeast Community College on January 17.

Thursday night looked as if the Cougars would get a win after the first half. Gillette led 14-5 early before Kellon Harris hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 14-11 contest. The Cougars tied the game at 20-20 with 10 minutes to play and then took their first their first lead of the game on a Noah Jones 3-pointer. WNCC trailed late in the first half at 35-34 and then closed out the first half on a 12-2 run that saw Jones nail a 3-pointer at the buzzer and a 46-37 lead.

The second half saw Gillette score eight straights to start the half and close to within a point. WNCC widened the lead once again, leading 53-48 and led 58-55. Gillette went on a 10-0 run to go up 65-58.

The lead would see-saw back and forth from that point on. WNCC held an 80-78 lead with about five minutes to play when Harris banked in a 3-pointer. Gillette responded with another 9-0 run to go up 87-80. WNCC only scored four points in the final five minutes as the Pronghorns won 94-84.

WNCC shot 51 percent from the field and buried 14 3-pointers. Gillette was 56 percent from the field and made six triples. The difference was WNCC attempted 35 3-point shots, making 40 percent while Gillette was 6-of-13 from the arc.

WNCC had four players in double figures, led by Harris with 26 points and four 3-pointers. Jones finished with 18 points while Isaiah St. Preux and Xavier Kirkpatrick each had 11 points. Harris and Jones each had four 3-pointers in the loss.

WNCC 46 38 – 84
Gillette 37 57 – 94

GILLETTE
Sayed Sayed 24, Jaden Smith 22, Jada Bolok 12, Joe Sawyer 11, Rashad McCormick 8, Diabe Bathily 7, Moses Blackwell 5, Chris Morgan 5.

WNCC
Kellon Harris 26, Noah Jones 18, Xavier Kirkpatrick 11, Isaiah St. Pteux 11, Melchi Ebbeyemi 7, Dorin Nguema 6, Toms Linis 5.