Coming into Friday night's South Sub-region, the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team knew what was on the line and to have any hopes to win the South Sub-region they have to win both games this weekend.

                Friday night, they took the first step against Lamar Community College at Cougar Palace in sophomore recognition night, with a huge 108-102 win over Lamar Community College. WNCC only surrendered the lead just once, at 22-21 with about 12 minutes left in the first half to get the win.

                The win moves the Cougars to 12-15 overall but, more importantly, to 7-4 on the South Sub-region. WNCC, North Platte, and Trinidad State are all tied with 7-4 records. WNCC travels to face Northeastern Junior College Saturday afternoon while Trinidad State faces North Platte.

                IF WNCC wins on Saturday, they will win the South Sub-region and secure a first-round bye in the regional tournament that will be played March 13-15 in Gillette, Wyoming. A loss on Saturday and then the winner of the North Platte/Trinidad State game will win the sub-region. A loss would also make it a 3-way tied for second, which then would guarantee the Cougars a home first-round play-in game next weekend.

                For this Cougar team, they are one that can score points. WNCC is averaging 90.2 points a contest and in Friday's win, WNCC had three players finish with 20 or more points. Sophomores Elijah Burney and Elijah Hollins led the way. Hollins had 26 points with five 3-pointers while Burney had a season-high 23 points with four triples. Kellon Harris, a red-shirt freshman, had a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. The other sophomore that was recognized before the game along with Hollins and Burney was Mathiang Maker, who scored all his 18 points in the second half.

                WNCC head coach Roybell Baez loved how his team kept battling without not giving up the lead except for that one time in the first half.

                "I knew it was going to be that type of game and those guys were not going to go away," Baez said on the radio post-game show. "I was sitting on the bench and told the fellas that we have to keep playing because we had a 10-point lead with about 50 seconds left. But, then again, they are a good team, I knew that comeback was possible and that if they won tonight, they win the sub-region title. At halftime, I told the fellas that you have the lead but you should have been up by 15. In the last three minutes of the first half we were out there shrinking the lead off. When you play teams like that who are scrappy and they don't give up, and luckily we shot the lights out tonight with 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from the 3-point arc, that is crazy. I will take that."

                Friday's contest was one where the cartoon character the Roadrunner would have enjoyed because it was fast-paced and both teams shot well. WNCC was 51 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind the arc, making 14 3-pointers. Lamar was 48 percent from the field and buried 11 triples. Lamar was just 30 percent from 3-point arc.

                With that kind of pace, the winning team needs to stay focused and Lamar had two long runs and that was it. The other runs that the Runnin' Lopes had were just a couple back-to-back buckets here and there. Otherwise, WNCC was answering, for the most part, Lamars buckets.

                The two big runs for Lamar came late in the first half when WNCC was up 50-37 and watched Lamar go on an 8-0 run to make it a 50-45 first-half lead. WNCC led at half, 52-45.

                The second long run came mid-way in the second half when WNCC built an 83-67 lead with 10 minutes to play. Lamar came back with a 10-0 run to make it a 6-point lead at 83-77. WNCC stopped the run with a Burney 3-pointer and then went on a key 6-0 run that saw Hollins, Maker, and Harris all hit buckets within a minute to lead 94-83.

                WNCC had a 104-96 lead late and watched Lamar battle back, slicing the deficit down to six points at 106-100 with under 50 seconds to play. WNCC picked up the defense and got key free throws down the stretch along with key rebounds for the win.

Lamar                 45 57 – 102
WNCC                52 56 – 108
LAMAR
Zach Brown 13, Chance White 26, Sean Lindsay 24, Christian Payawal 6, T-Shawn Bois 11, David Hill, Jr. 10, Jalen Obrian 12.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 25, Elijah Hollins 26, Mathiang Maker 18, Elijah Burney 23, Toms Linis 2, Noah Jones 3, Reece Randolph 4, Isaiah St. Preux 3, Dorin Niguema 2, Witold Czerenkiewicz 2.