WNCC push win streak to 15

WNCC push win streak to 15 games
Cougars down Casper

For Complete Boxscore

From the desk of MARK REIN

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team continues to win and with every win, the Cougar men are inching closer to setting records.

WNCC’s 79-63 win over Casper College Saturday night was the Cougars 15^th straight win of the season pushing their record to 16-2 on the season. The 15 straight wins is tied for third in the record books. The longest win streak dates back to the 1998-99 season when the team won 22 straight games. And, if the Cougars continue winning, they can set the record for least losses in a season, which is four set back in 1994-95.

WNCC coach Trace Bevell said the win streak is a plus for the player’s attitude.

"They can believe they can win any where," Bevell said. "They have a sense of cockiness to them a little bit, but it is a good cockiness. They are not arrogant. They know if they don’t play (well) they will get beat. We are comfortable in the fact that we will compete."

The Cougars have yet to be ranked this season, but that could all change this afternoon when the NJCAA national poll is released. Bevell said he isn’t worried about rankings because if you are ranked, then teams have more incentive to beat you.

The success the Cougar men are having goes back to the players in that there is not just one star, but many. Bevell said a different player is stepping up and knocking down shots every game. Against Casper, it was Golden Corner and J.P. Batista. Corner finished with 17 points, including 4-of-7 from the 3-point line. Batista finished with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

"The good thing about us right know is that every night, someone else is stepping forward. Tony (Helton) stepped up against NJC and Golden and Joao Paulo against Casper. Ryan (Thompson) and Brandon (Key) have stepped forward and played good games," he said. "So, when guys are having off nights, other guys are stepping forward. That is a good comfort for us to get into it. We still need to get all five guys playing hard together. We do play hard. We don’t do the best execution on offense, but we are able to get up shots and help us out."

The Cougars win against Casper Saturday night wasn’t pretty, but it was a win – a big win in fact considering it was WNCC’s first sub-region game of the year.

"It wasn’t a real pretty game, but when you play Casper, it will be a battle regardless of how we are playing and how they are playing," he said. "We shot 46 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3-point line and 61 from free throw line. Overall, our shooting wasn’t bad. We had 20 turnovers, way too many on the road. But, we were able to capitalize off their mistakes more then they were able to capitalize off of our mistakes. Any time you can get a road win, they are always sweet, but central sub-region games a lot sweeter."

WNCC led 36-30 at halftime against Casper and exploded for 43 second half points. At one point, though, Casper cut the lead to four points, but the Cougars hit some crucial shots and defensive stands to pus the lead back to 16 points for the win.

The difference in the game was 3-point shooting where the Cougars were 9-of-22 compared to just 1-of-11 for Casper. Corner led the 3-point barrage with four treys followed by two each from Rodrigo Segantim and Tony Helton.

"Casper didn’t shoot the ball real well. They struggled and we played good defensive pressure on them and had guys on their shooters. Even when we zoned them, we had pretty good zone defense. I liked how hard we played," Bevell said. "It was a tough game for a while. At halftime we were only up six. They battled back and got it to four and we came back down the stretch and took care of business. We made some big shots and got some big offensive rebounds and then got some big stops. Casper is still a good team. They are young. They do some good things. They are athletic and if you get them going on runs, you will get in trouble."

WNCC had three players in double figures. Besides Corner and Batista, Thompson also saw double-figure scoring with 12 points. Segantim was near getting a double-double as he finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

WNCC will go after its 16^th straight win Wednesday night when they travel to La Junta, Colo., to face Otero Junior College. WNCC defeated Otero earlier this month 74-58 at Cougar Palace, but Bevell knows that playing them down there will be a totally different story.

"It will be very, very difficult. We are preparing our guys for it mentally. We are going to go down there and not get any calls from the refs," he said. "It is always difficult to go down there and play and come out a victor. We have to play really well. We can’t have 20 turnovers. We cannot make bad mistakes and try to make up for them. We have to be sharp. It will be a long trip 5 ½ hour bus trip down there, but I think the guys are ready for it."

CASPER COLLEGE
Tiras Prothro 16, Mike Reese 6, Hank McGowen 4, Ike Okafor 14, Robbie Phillips 8, Jeremy Atwater 13, Dejan Jancic 2.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Golden Corner 17, Ryan Thompson 12, Brandon Key 5, Rodrigo Segantim 9, J.P. Batista 16, RaShawn Broadus 2, Tony Helton 9, Brad Ryan 7, Olivier Haranga 2.