Feb. 25, 2008

Final Stats

The Northeastern Junior College Men's Basketball team continued its strong play on the road as it took down Region IX foe Western Nebraska on the Cougar's home court, 69-54.

Although the Cougars battled early with the Plainsmen, only down by two points almost midway through a very low-scoring first half - the Cougars were overcome by strong play on the side of the Plainsmen. "It was a very good game for us defensively. I think this is one of the best games we have played (defensively) this year. We played tough defense for 40 minutes," said Head Coach Eddie Trenkle.

Offensively, the game was not very spectacular for either team, but NJC played tough in runs coming out from a half time lead of 30-18 and putting a run of 11-2 together the first 5 minutes of the second half. The Plainsmen nailed three 3-pointers during that span, before a Western Nebraska timeout. The Cougars finished the game making just 26.8 percent of their shots (19 of 71). WNCC made only 1 of 18 shots from 3-point range.

"We had moments we could have really busted out, but we didn't take advantage of every opportunity that we had. I am very happy to go on the road and play tough, hardnosed defense against a good team who has the home court advantage," continued Trenkle.

The Plainsmen continued to play solid and pulled away from the cougars to pick up the tough road win.

"I am really happy for our guys. They showed me that they are more than an offensive minded team. We can play a grind it out game and come out on top. I was happy with that," said Trenkle

For WNCC, Daniel Smith led with 17 points, and he also pulled down three rebounds. Deividas Busma added 11 points and six rebounds, and Chris Hamblin recorded 10 points and five rebounds.

For NJC, Troy Smith led the way with 21 points, and Mike Dominguez added 11 points. DeRay Wilson finished with 10 points, and Jeron Lewis had 10 rebounds.