GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team put six players in double figures as the Cougars topped Miles Community College 101-91 Saturday afternoon to wrap up the Border Wars Classic in Gillette, Wyoming. 

                The Cougars finished the Border Wars Classic at 2-1 against the three Region 13 teams while moving to 8-7 on the season to wrap up the first semester. WNCC will return to action on January 5 when they host Taylor Made Prep. 

                The Cougars win on Saturday was one where they used a big run in the first half and then never relinquished the lead.  

                With the score knotted at 11-11, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run behind buckets by a variety of players to grab a 23-11 lead. Miles cut the deficit to 27-20 only to watch WNCC score five straight to go back up 32-20 on a Willie Wilson bucket. 

                Late in the first half, Miles sliced the Cougar lead to 42-37. WNCC ran off 11 points behind five points from Maurice Walker to lead 53-41 at halftime. 

                The second half saw WNCC lead by double digits for the first 10 minutes. WNCC led 88-72 with about five minutes to play on a Kayden Nation old-fashioned 3-point play. Miles came back and scored 11 straight to cut the lead to five, 88-83 with 1:56 to play. WNCC answered on a bucket by Daniel Bula and two free throws by Nazir Griffin to go up 93-83. WNCC hit the century mark with 10 seconds to play as Walker nailed two free throws. 

                WNCC had a team scoring effort with six in double figures. Bula led the way with 21 points along with nine rebounds. Bula also led the team with four steals. Wilson tallied 13 points while Walker had 12, and Griffin, Nation, and Junior Galicia each had 10 points. 

                WNCC shot 51 percent for the game while only making 5-of-16 from beyond the arc. WNCC was 28-of-35 from the charity stripe. 

                The Cougar defense forced 24 Miles turnovers. Miles, however, shot 54 percent from the field and buried seven 3-pointers. Miles was 20-of-30 from the free throw line. 

Miles                    41 50 – 91 

WNCC (8-7)       53 48 – 101 

MILES 

Ethan Bell 8, Payton Kokot 23, Ryder Lee 11, Aguir Dawam 4, Ethan Venema 9, Dillon Gee 3, Koak Kok 7, Daniel PiechMeat 22, Kris English 4. 

WNCC 

Maurice Walker 12, Nazir Griffin 10, Willie Wilson 13, Stephen Ovia 9, Daniel Bula 21, Junior Galicia 10, Anthony Simo 7, Danilo Glisovic 2, Elijah Burney 7, Kayden Nation 10. 

WNCC women register ninth straight win 

                GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team used a strong second quarter in registering their ninth straight victory with a 69-40 win over Miles Community College to wrap up the Border Wars Classic in Gillette, Wyoming, Saturday afternoon. 

                The Cougars move to 12-1 on the season as they get set to host Laramie County Community College on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Cougar Palace in the final game before the holiday break. 

                WNCC win on Saturday to help them finish the 3-day Border Wars Classic with a 3-0 record, was a team effort as WNCC shot 39 percent from the field and connected on six 3-pointers. For the tournament, WNCC made 29 3-pointers. 

                The Cougars trailed just once in the contest at 2-0 and led 9-4 on a Helena Kuck 3-pointer. The Cougars led 13-6 after buckets by Mackenzie Joseph and Ebere Egbirika. Miles came back to cut the deficit to 13-10, but Amiyah Donaldson buried a trey and the Cougars led 16-12 after one period. 

                The second quarter was where the Cougar defense played lights out, holding the Pioneers to just six points. WNCC opened the quarter with five straight points and led 24-14 with five minutes to play on a Egbirika bucket. The Cougars finished off the half with six straight points as Mackenzie Joseph had a trey at the buzzer for the 32-18 halftime lead. 

                The second half saw WNCC go up 43-21 on a Keyla Cervantes 3-pointer. Miles came back to outscore WNCC the rest of the quarter 9-4, but the Cougars still led 48-30 entering the final period. 

                The Cougars quickly put the game away in the fourth as they went on a 6-0 run to lead 54-30lead. The Cougars added even more as they scored three straight buckets including back-to-buck deuces from Donaldson for a 59-32 lead and never looked back for the 69-40 win. 

                WNCC shot 39 percent in the game and had 39 rebounds. Donaldson led the Cougars with 23 points followed by 13 from Joseph and nine from Walker. 

                After Thursday, the Cougars will be off for the holiday break and then return for a home contest on January 6 against Central Wyoming College. 

Miles                    12 6 12 10 – 40 

WNCC (12-1)    16 16 15 22 – 69 

MILES 

Reagan LaPlante 5, Lainey Smith 4, Brae Eneboe 14, Lora LaBrie 4, Jana Gargallo lk7, Hannah Wildner 6. 

WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 23, Helena Kuck 5, Faith Walker 9, Mackenzie Joseph 13, Ebere Egbirika 6, Keyla Cervantes 3, Laura Montiel 7, Jamie Caron 1, Kiley Smich 2.