The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team dropped a pair South Sub-region contests on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, WNCC outscored Trinidad State College 50-43 in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Trojans captured the 94-89 win.
Saturday's contest saw Elijah Hollins score 27 points but Otero College at a 22-10 run in the last seven minutes to capture the 83-72 win.
That moves the Cougars to 9-15 overall and 4-4 in sub-region play. WNCC will be back in action Tuesday night when they host North Platte Community College at 6:30 p.m. at Cougar Palace in a key sub-region contest.
In fact, Tuesday's sub-region games will go a long way in separating teams from the top or making a log jam for the lead. North Platte is 4-3 in the sub-region and 16-7 overall. Other teams that will play Tuesday that will play a factor in the standings is Northeastern Junior College at McCook Community College and then Lamar at Trinidad State.
Lamar leads the sub-region with a 6-3 mark followed by Trinidad at 5-3. With North Platte just a game and a half out of first, Tuesday's contest will be pivotal for both squads. A win by WNCC and four teams will have four losses and tied for second. A North Platte win will put North Platte and the winner of the Lamar/Trinidad game with three losses,
In Saturday's contest, WNCC was in prime shape to pick up a win. The Cougars trailed 43-27 at halftime. After halftime, WNCC went on a 11-0 run to lead 48-43. The Cougars continued hitting their shots as they went up 53-47 and lager led 57-52.
Otero came back to take a 61-60 lead. Hollins was then intentionally fouled and hit two free throws for a 62-61 lead with just over seven minutes to play. WNCC led 68-67 on a Kellon Harris field goal with about five minutes to play. After that, the Cougars would score just five points over the next three minutes while Otero would go on a 16-5 run including 11 straight to the 11-point victory.
Hollins led the way with 27 points with five 3-pointers. Harris and Elijah Burney also had double figures. Burney had 11 points with two 3-pointers while Harris had 10 points.
Friday's game with Trinidad was a battle in the first half early as both teams were trading baskets while playing tight defense. Trinidad took an 8-point lead at 22-14 with just under 11 minutes to play in the opening half. The lead ballooned to 12 points a minute later but WNCC got the deficit to four points on two Maker free throws with five minutes to play. WNCC would trail 51-39 at halftime.
WNCC came out in the second half and went on a 10-0 run with five straight points from Harris and Hollins to make it a 51-49 game. WNCC trailed 61-58 on a Maker dunk. Trinidad went on a 6-0 run to make the score 67-58. The Cougars 11 straight to take a 69-67 lead with 12 minutes to play. WNCC led 73-69 on a Harris inbounds steal.
Trinidad scored eight straight for a 77-73 lead. WNCC came back with back-to-back buckets by Harris to tie the game at 77. Trinidad led 91-80 with two minutes to play when WNCC went on a 7-0 run to make it a 91-887 contest, but that was as close as they got.
Maker led the team with a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds followed by 22 points from Harris with six rebounds. Also getting double figures was Hollins with 16 points and four 3-pointers, while Isaiah St. Preux had 11 and Burney had 10.
Friday's Game
WNCC 39 50 – 89
Trinidad 51 43 – 94
WNCC
Kellon Harris 22, Elijah Hollins 16, Mathiang Maker 24, Elijah Burney 10, Reece Randolph 4, Isaiah St. Preux 11, Dorin Nguema 2.
Saturday's Game
WNCC 37 35 – 72
Otero 43 40 – 83
WNCC
Reece Randolph 2, Kellon Harris 10, Isaiah St. Preux 8, Elijah Hollins 27, Mathiang Maker 9, Elijah Burney 11, Dorin Nguema 2, Toms Linis 3.