Dec. 5, 2007

Final Stats

By Anthony Arroyo Journal-Advocate sports reporter

STERLING -- Usually the Plainsmen of Northeastern Junior College are a second half team, but the work they put in the first half was good enough to come away with a 73-56 victory against North Platte Community College Tuesday. NJC continues to roll, as the team is now a perfect 12-0 and jumped up to No. 4 in the nation. The unique part of this team, head coached by Eddie Trenkle, is that they are able to figure out team's quickly and adapt even quicker.

The game was highlighted very early in the contest after a putback dunk by sophomore Eric Miller brought the fans to their feet for the early 2-0 lead. Northeastern would actually trail 11-8 early on, but the team was quick to put it into gear. A steal on the defensive end of the ball, concluded with big man Jeron Lewis' breakaway dunk gave his team a 14-13 lead. They would never look back.

NJC went on a 17-3 run, capped off with back-to-back three pointers by sophomores Mike Dominguez and Troy Smith to extend their lead to 15. The Plainsmen would lead 34-20 at the half. North Platte didn't help their own cause, only shooting 25 percent in the first half alone. Both teams found the basket more often in the second half, but NJC still managed to outscore their opponent by three points to finish off with the 17-point victory.

Leading scorer for the Plainsmen was Smith, with 16 points on 8-14 shooting, including two from deep. Dominguez was perfect from the field, shooting 7-7 from the field and three three-pointers for 11 points. DeRay Wilson also put in some work, finishing with 11 points and six assists. Alex Garcia and DeMario Partee had nine and eight respectably off the bench.

As a team, NJC had 22 points off their bench and out-rebounded North Platte 44-33. Northeastern will travel to the Salt Lake Classic this weekend and will have their biggest challenge up to date. Thursday, NJC will face North Idaho, who is 7-0 and ranked No. 19 in the nation at 3:30 p.m. Friday, the Plainsmen will play against Colorado Northwestern Community College at 3:30 p.m., and will conclude with Salt Lake Community College, a team that is 9-0 and ranked eight in the nation.