By Anthony Arroyo Journal-Advocate sports reporter

TORRINGTON, Wyo. -- The Plainsmen of Northeastern Junior College have battled slow starts during the first three rounds of the Region IX Tournament.

Yet, the team still found ways to win.

NJC finally got a good start from the club, starting the game on a 12-4 run behind some more hot shooting from sophomore DeRay Wilson, wrapping up a 78-63 victory against Western Wyoming Tuesday night.

"This was a game that we played hard for 40 minutes," NJC men's head coach Eddie Trenkle said. "It was a combined effort from everyone, and different guys stepped up at different times."

Northeastern are now winners of 14 straight and will face the host team, Eastern Wyoming, for a chance to win its third Region IX title in the last four years.

DeRay Wilson has lit it up from the field in the regional tournament, and sparked the offense once again early on. Wilson had four three's in the first half, on his way to 14 first-half points.

Western Wyoming made its runs, but struggled from the field. Stats stated that the Plainsmen were out-rebounded by 15 in the first half, but still led 39-33 at the break.

"I couldn't believe we were out-rebounded that much," Trenkle said, on his first reaction seeing the stat sheet. "I told the team that, and they stepped it up even more in the second half, doing a good job keeping Western to a one-and-done on offense."

Wilson hit his fifth three of the game very early in the second half to lift his team to a 44-33 lead and the rest was history.

Western Wyoming would cut the deficit to 46-40, but sophomore Troy Smith stepped up in the second half, having his best game of the tournament.

During that same stretch, Smith scored four-straight points to push the lead back to double-digits.

A three by sophomore Lawrence Tyson with 12:29 to play gave NJC its biggest lead to that point, 55-42.

"Our big guys came through huge for us, especially at the free-throw line," Trenkle said. "The kids do a great job responding to challenges and we will have to respond and grind again when we play today."

After 14 points from DeRay in the first half, the sophomore guard finished with 19 points to lead all scorers. Smith added 17, in which 12 came in the second half. AJ Wilson had nine, while Eric Miller and Tyson each finished with eight.

The Plainsmen were 17-22 from the free-throw line.

NJC will have a tough task on its hands when it faces the host team, Eastern Wyoming, in the final today at 7 p.m.

Eastern defeated McCook 74-50 in the first round and followed that with a 85-67 showing against Dawson. The team just snuck by Trinidad State Junior College Tuesday, 63-62, to get to the final round.

The Plainsmen have defeated Eastern Wyoming twice this season: 75-57 back in November in Torrington, and 64-62 at home on Jan. 15.