WNCC men fall to Colorado Northwestern

Kellon Harris drives to the bucket against an EWC player.
Kellon Harris drives to the bucket against an EWC player.

                TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team had a poor night shooting as Colorado Northwestern Community College buried 17 3-pointers and captured the 97-55 win Saturday at the Coco-Cola Invite in Twin Falls, Idaho.

                The 22 second-half points that the Cougars scored is the fifth-lowest second-half output in school history. The record is 17 points scored in the second half set in 1973-74 followed by two 20-point second half scoring against Air Force JV in 1991-92 and Northeastern Junior College in 2014, and 21 points against Eastern Wyoming in 2002.

                Shooting was the big difference in the contest where CNCC shot 46.3 percent from the field while connecting on 17 3-pointers. WNCC shot 28.8 percent and buried just 6-of-28 triples.

                WNCC had just one player in double figures as Elijah Hollins had 16 points with three 3-pointers in the game. CNCC had four in double figures with 24 points coming from Santiago Casarin along with seven 3-pointers.

                And while the score might look one-sided, it wasn't especially early. The Cougars led just once in the contest at 5-4 on a Hollins 3-pointer. The two teams were tied at 12-12 on a Noah Jones bucket with 12 minutes left in the opening half.

                Later, CNCC held a 20-17 lead and went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 29-17. The Cougars fought back to make it a 5-point contest at 29-24 on a Wetold Czerenkiewicz field goal. CNCC followed with a 12-3 run and led 43-33 at halftime.

                The second half saw WNCC score the opening bucket on Kellon Harris' only bucket of the game. After that, the Spartans went on a 15-2 run to lead 58-37 and the Cougars didn't get back-to-back buckets on free throws by Isaiah St. Preux and Caleb Swisher to make it 89-55.

                The Cougars will have a week off as they will finish off the first semester with four games in December. The Cougars will next be in action December 5-7 when they head to Gillette, Wyoming for a 3-day tourney when they face North Dakota State College of Science, Little Big Horn, and Miles Community College. The Cougars will then wrap up the fist semester with a home game on December 10 against Casper College at 6:30 p.m.

WNCC (2-7)    33 22 – 55
CNCC (8-1)     43 54 – 97
WNCC
Kellon Harris 2, Elijah Hollins 16, Mathiang Maker 6, Elijah Burney 6, Kendrick Preston 2, Noah Jones 3, Reece Randolph 3, Isaiah St. Preux 7, Caleb Swisher 3, Dorin Nguema 2, Witold Czerenkiewicz 5.
CNCC
Cole Johnson 9, Santiago Casarin 24, Jamir Todd 9, Tyler Christensen 10, Mason Mickelsen 10, Deacon Poole 5, Elijah Kersey 3, Carson Forsey 5, Trey Johnson 6, Arthur Videira 4, Mitch Jeppesen 12.