The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team received a combined 41 points from Kellon Harris and Elijah Hollins as the Cougars won their home opener on Wednesday 71-64 over Eastern Wyoming College.
WNCC head coach Roybell Baez said it was a tale of two halves, but his team found a way to win in the second half. WNCC led 35-22 at halftime and were outscored 42-36 in the second half.
"We played like a team that has a bunch of freshmen and a freshman coach, I can tell you that much," Baez said. "We came out in the first half and we were hot. We played pretty good defense in the first half and then in the second half, they came out desperate, down by 13 at half. They hit shots, were aggressive and going to the rim and we were settling for bad shots. When I called that last time out, I told the fellas we have to take better shots and take care of the ball."
The thing that stood out for the Cougars is they only trailed once in the contest at 2-0. But, in the second half, EWC cut what was a 16-point lead in the second half, 48-32, to just two points at 66-64 with 1:36 to play.
The Cougars then picked up the defense and held the Lancers scoreless the final 90 seconds for the win.
"We are coming off a close game against Salt Lake, a really good team, and I think that game helped settle our nerves a little at the end," Baez said. "But, there are so many areas we need to improve in. You can tell we have some young pups out there and their eyes light up when the basketball is in their hands, and we have to kind of tame them a little bit. We are taking the game just right, but sometimes they are just too reckless."
A big key in the game was the play of freshman Kellon Harris. Harris, the Scottsbluff High graduate, led the team in several categories. Harris finished with a game-high 21 points while also leading the team in rebounds (9), assists (3), steals (3), and dunks (2).
Elijah Hollins was next with 20 points with three 3-pointers. Isaiah St. Preux tallied nine points.
Baez said there is no doubt that Harris can play.
"How about Kellon Harris period," Baez said. "You want to talk about a kid from Scottsbluff whose brother played here and his dad played here and for him to come out and put on a show. I remind you that Kellon has played well in the preseason and the first two games that we had. He had a double-double against Salt Lake. I have been begging Kellon to be aggressive from the time I took the job. The first time we had open gym, he was out there passing the ball and being passive. I got into him and said, 'hey, you are a good player and you need to ne out there and be aggressive. He has been doing that. As you could see tonight, he is a really good basketball player and this is just the beginning, he is only a freshman."
WNCC started the game with a 11-2 lead and ballooned it to 15-4 on a Harris and Elijah Burney bucket. WNCC led by 10 at 25-15 on a Reece Randolph three. The Lancers came back to make it a 26-20 game on a 3-pointer. WNCC rebounded with nine straight points for a 35-20 lead and led 35-22 at halftime.
The second half saw EWC score the first six points, but WNCC would go on a 7-0 run to lead 48-32. WNCC led by 13, 57-44 on a Harris dunk. Things changed as EWC made it a 57-50 game on back-to-back buckets by LaThario Miller.
The Lancers kept chipping away and got the lead down to 65-61 on a Alain Nziza trey and then had a 2-point game when Eli Igiranez hit a triple. WNCC came right back as Hollins hit a bucket and then Harris nailed two free throws with 29.7 left and won 71-67.
The Cougars will next be in action next week when they travel to Torrington, Wyoming, to face EWC in a women's and men's doubleheader and then turn around and host Laramie County Community College at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Baez said that these two weeks of games are special because he knows both coaches really well.
"It is how life works that my first two games at The Palace will be against Bill Engel, who has been a father figure for me like 10-plus years and Dwayne Salsbury, who was my head coach when I worked at Laramie Coach when I worked there for a year," he said. "So, it is funny how the world works and two emotional games back-to-back."
EWC 22 42 – 64
WNCC 35 36 – 71
EWC
Jumarion Weh 8, Jouk Mayan 7, Khayree Rashed 2, Jaironn Speights 7, LaThario Miller 10, Bilal Cisse 4, Eli Igiranez 6, Alain Nziza 14, Javier Gonzalez 2, Vukasin Spasojevic 2, Rodrigo Sanchez 2.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 21, Elijah Hollins 20, Mathiang Maker 4, Elijah Burney 6, Noah Jones 2, Reece Randolph 6, Isaiah St. Preux 9, Dorin Nguema 2, Toms Linis 1.