The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team had three players score 20-plus points and snapped a 4-game losing skid with a huge South Conference 110-101 win over defending Region IX champs Trinidad State College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                The win puts the Cougars in the middle of the conference standings at 1-1 while Northeastern Junior College and North Platte Community led the conference at 2-1. WNCC will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to McCook Community College for a women's and men's conference doubleheader.

                Saturday's win was one where Trinidad started the contest just like they did in last year's Region IX championship game with a big lead. On Saturday, the Trojans jumped to a 15-1 and seemed DeJa'Vu from the 2024 Region IX championship game. But, this is 2025 and not 2024 and the Cougar men outscored the Trojans 54-38 in the final 15 minutes of the first half and played team ball to get their first conference win.

                "It took a full team effort," WNCC head coach Roybell Baez said. "For us to get down 15-1 to start the game and respond the way we did says a lot about our guys. We were desperate for a win and we played like a team that was desperate."

                A big key in the game was the play of everyone that saw action. WNCC was led in scoring by Kellon Harris and Toms Linis with 26 points each and 25 points from Mathiang Maker. Linis was hot from beyond the arc, nailing six 3-pointers, while Maker went 13-of-15 from the charity stripe. Harris netted four 3-pointers had pulled down seven rebounds.

                And, when the Cougars were making their come back, they did it by eliminating back-to-back buckets from Trinidad State.

                Linis, who had a big 4-point play in the second half after getting fouled after making a 3-pointer, said this team

                We started off slowly as a team with our fundamentals," the freshman from Latvia said. "Once we got that all together and started playing more together, we knew we could do it, We got back on track and the scoreboard showed that."

                Linis and Coach Baez knew how important this game was and the win showed just how dangerous the Cougar men could be.

                "For us it was a big motivation to come back with our home crowd," he said. "We come together, made a run and went for it. It was a huge win and it was beautiful. We were finally playing like a team. I love all the guys and we need to keep pushing."

                After Trinidad went up 15-1, the Cougars hit their first field goal of the game as Harris nailed a 3-pointer with 15 minutes to play. Trinidad led by nine points at 34-25 and that was when the Cougars started their comeback as they hit a bunch of free throws and made it a 36-33 deficit after four points from Maker.

                WNCC took their first lead of the game with 5:09 left in the opening half when Witold Czerenkiewicz got an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the hoop for a 39-38 lead. The teams were tied a number of times and Trinidad led 53-52 late. Harris then buried a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer to give the Cougars a 55-53 lead.

                The second half saw Trinidad open up with a 12-5 run to lead 65-60 and led 69-64. WNCC scored 7-0 straight to grab a 71-69 lead and led 74-70. Trinidad retook the lead at 77-74 and led 80-79.

                WNCC resumed the lead at 81-80 on a Maker dunk and scored another 11 points on a 4-point play from Linis and then Linis buried another triple for a 90-82 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 14 points at 98-84.

                Trinidad tried coming back as they sliced the Cougar lead to seven, 104-97, with 40 seconds to play. The Cougars then hit their free throws down the stretch to claim the win.

                Shooting was the big reason for the win. WNCC shot 44 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line. The Cougars netted 14 3-pointers. Trinidad shot 52 percent from the field, but only made four triples.

                Free throw shooting was also key as the Cougars were 28-of-36 while Trinidad was 23-of-35.

Trinidad             53 48 – 101
WNCC                55 55 – 110
TRINIDAD
Amir Reaves 16, Lateef Patrick 23, Sean Johnson 9, Jack Kingswood 13, Kyren Allen 11, Tyler Clayton 3, Nico Valentine 4, Tayejon White 4, James Pulliam 7, Devin Davenport 11.
WNCC
Reece Randolph 7, Kellon Harris 26, Elijah Hollins 13, Mathiang Maker 25, Elijah Burney 4, Isaiah St. Preux 7, Witold Czerenkiewicz 2, Toms Linis 26.