Jan. 11, 2008

Final Stats

By Ken McDowell Sports Editor

NORTH PLATTE, NEB.

- There's nothing like coming back from a one month layoff and playing a couple of good teams.

That's what the Northeastern Junior College (NJC) Plainsmen basketball team faced by hosting a good Frank Phillips, Tex., Community College team on Monday and traveling to North Platte, Neb., Community College Tuesday.

In Monday's game NJC pulled away to defeat Frank Phillips 88-82. On Tuesday the Plainsmen followed up with a 66-53 win at North Platte. NJC improves to 15-2.

"I thought we played well on both ends of the court against North Platte," said NJC Coach Eddie Trenkle. "We played together all 40 minutes, and all of the guys contributed in different ways."

The game was close in the second half before NJC went on a 10-0 run, led by sophomore DeRay Wilson, to put the game away. Trenkle added that NJC continued to shoot the ball well by hitting 55% of its shots.

"There really wasn't one guy who played bad," he added. "I also though Eric Miller got some big rebounds that gave us some extra possessions."

Monday's game against Frank Phillips was the first action after the break for the Plainsmen. Even though NJC allowed 82 points, Trenkle stressed that the visiting team entered the game scoring over 100 PPG.

"Frank Phillips gave us some different match-ups," he observed. "We really liked that because it was a game much like the one against North Idaho College in the Salt Lake City Tournament before the break, except that this time we came out on the winning end." NJC dropped that game 88-81 for its first loss of the season. Trenkle added that his team came back ready to play after the month long break.

"We kind of went through the motions the first half against Frank Phillips, but then we started playing like we did before the Salt Lake City Tournament," he noted. "I think the kids have learned that they can't win a game by making just one play, but they need to make several plays."

NJC will have a tough road trip this weekend as they play at Sheridan, Wyo. College of Friday and Casper, Wyo. College Saturday.

Sheridan is 13-1 and is ranked 14th in the nation. NJC has dropped out of the top 20 a notch to 21st in the nation this week.

"Sheridan has two 6'4" athletic guards," Trenkle reported. "Last year they shot a lot of three-pointers, and you never knew which way they were going to come after you.

"But this year they have more balance. They also play hard and have no fear, so it will be a tough game for us." The NJC coach added that winning at Casper Saturday won't be an easy task either as the Thunderbirds are 10- 2 on the season.

"Casper has a lot of very good guards and they come after you on defense," he said. "They have a lot of players back and is more talented than last year's team.

"So this will be a tough trip and we will have to play well if we want to come back home with 17 wins." On Tuesday NJC will be back home to host Eastern Wyoming College.