Western Nebraska Community College head coach Roybell Baez called the Cougars first-round win over McCook Community College on Saturday a complete team win.
                It was a win like this that they needed as the Cougars scored 50-plus points in both halves enroute to an 107-73 win over the Indians in the first-round of the Region IX playoffs Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
                “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 win lifts the Cougars to 13-16 overall but, more importantly, the Cougars advance to next week’s 8-team Region IX Tournament in Gillette, Wyoming, March 13-15. The Cougars quarterfinal match-up will be a 5 p.m. game on Thursday.
                The quarter-final pairings will be released on Sunday or Monday, but if there are no upsets, WNCC will face Laramie County, who came in as the North 6 seed and topped North 3 seed Western Wyoming 86-81.
                Other first-round playoff scores on Saturday included from the South sub-region South 5 Otero upsetting Sout 4 North Platte 78-72, South 3 Lamar beating South 6 Northeastern 87-78,
                North sub-region scores included North 2Casper topping North 7 EWC 98-76, and North 4 Northwest taking out North 5 Central Wyoming 62-53.
                Saturday’s win was a win that saw a complete team effort where 10 of the 12 players got in the scoring column. It was late in the game where the Cougars continued showing the talent when Noah Jones had two eye-popping dunks and Scottsbluff’s Caleb Swisher swished a 3-pointer and was fouled for a 4-point play. Baez said that triple that Swisher made is deserving for a player that is always in the gym working and it was nice to see him to that.
                “I was praying in the second half that we could pull away so that I could get him into the game because Caleb shows up everyday and is in the gym whether we are having practice or not and he is really one of the harder workers,” Baez said. ‘For him to sit at the end of the game, cheering his teammates on, showing up to practice, that isn’t easy to do. People think it is easy being the walk-on that shows up every day and I am so proud of him. That moment he deserved. The last home game of the year, hasn’t played all year. I put him in the game and everybody on the bench was going ‘shoot it’ and he was about to pass it. Honestly, I am so happy for him. It couldn’t have happened to a better kid.\
“We said that all year when something good happens. We have a really good group of kids. We don’t have any off-the-court issues. We don’t have attitudes. They allow me to coach them hard. They show up every day and after all the losses we have taken, they show up every day and they literally have their eyes wide open to me whatever the message is. I could say, ‘hey fellas, I have some shovels, and we are going to go shovel some dog dodo, and they would be ready to do it.”
The game started as McCook was staying with the Cougars early in the first with two early ties and the Indians had a 17-16 lead on a 6-0 run with 13:23 to play in the opening half on a Tavarius Vinson bucket.
WNCC changed the momentum, going on a 198-5 run that saw Reece Randolph hit two 3-pointers and Mathiang Maker hammering home a dunk for the 34-21 lead. McCook wasn’t about to go away as they cut the Cougar lead to seven, 38-31 on a Norris Bourne, Jr., triple. WNCC pushed the lead back to double digits and took a 52-41 lead into halftime.
The second half saw the Cougars come out of the locker room inspired as they went up 66-52 on a Isaiah St. Preux bucket and led moments later on a Kellon Harris 3-pointer to lead 71-55.
The Cougars led 99-70 when they went on an 11-0 run that was highlighted by Swisher’s 4-point play after getting fouled on a 3-point shot. Noah Jones then closed out the scoring on three straight buckets, included a dunk that saw the bench and assistant coach Kyle Kincey jumping higher than Jones in celebration of the electric dunk.
WNCC shot 49 percent from the field and buried 16 3-pointers. McCook shot 44 percent and had seven triples.
WNCC had five players in double figures, led by Kellon Harris with 24 followed by Maker with 23, Elijah Hollins with 14, Jones with 12, and Randolph with 11. Maker had a double-double with 10 rebounds along with three assists and four steals.
 
McCook                             41 32 – 73
WNCC (13-16)              52 55 – 107
MCCOOK
Madison Peaster 13, Norris Bourne, Jr. 11, Vladimir Brkovic 12, Jason Robinson 18, Meek Acer 6, De’Shawn Hall-Johnson 2, Tavarius Vinson 11.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 24, Elijah Hollins 14, Mathiang Maker 23, Elijah Burney 8, Noah Jones 12, Reece Randolph 12, Isaiah St. Preux 4, Withold Czerenkiewicz 7, Caleb Swisher 4.