The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team wrapped up the first semester in fine fashion, earning their third straight victory in downing Laramie County Community College 89-82 on Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC pushed their record to 9-3 on the season.

                The Cougars put five players in double figures. Them Koang led the way with 24 points including eight rebounds. Rodney Sawyer added 21 points with nine boards. Agwa Nywesh finished with 14 points and seven boards while Biko Johnson had 13 points and seven boards and Carter Brown had 10 points with three 3-pointers.

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said they played well in spurts.

                "I thought overall we played really well," Engel said. "There were times we struggled with the basketball, but we were competitive for 40 minutes. When you compete as hard as these young me do, you will give yourself a chance to win a basketball game. "

                A big sign of the making of a good basketball team is stopping their opponent's runs and WNCC did just exactly that. WNCC trailed just twice in the contest with the first and second buckets of the game. After that, the Cougars only allowed the Golden Eagles to get to within a couple of points a couple of times throughout the game.

                "That has been what we are; they find a way to win basketball games," Engel said. "There is certainly no shortage of talent on our team, but we have to be mature enough to understand that a lot of teams in our league that we play during the year have a lot of talent. We just can't rely on our talent; we have to be competitive and continue defending and rebounding the way we are supposed to?

                The men's game was also close at the beginning as WNCC held an 8-4 lead and the 8-6. The Cougars then went on a 17-6 run behind a 3-pointer by Nywesh. The Cougars pushed the lead to 25-14 before LCCC came back with a 10-0 run to cut the score to 25-24. WNCC responded with an 8-0 run to lead 33-24 and led at halftime 35-26.

                The second half saw WNCC jump to a 19-point lead at 59-40 and led 66-50 on a Koang bucket. LCCC came back with an 11-0 run to slice the lead to 66-61. The Golden Eagles later cut the lead to 71-69 with six minutes to play. WNCC answered as they went up 81-73 including a dunk by Carl Thorpe.

                LCCC had one last gasp as they cut the lead to 84-80, but a bucket by Sawyer with a minute to play pushed the lead to 86-60 and the Cougars hit clutch free throws down the stretch for the win.

                LCCC shot 51 percent from the field and 27 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-26).

                WNCC was even hotter, shooting 58 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-22). Brown and Nywesh each had three treys, whole Sawyer knocked down two.

                WNCC, 9-3, will be off until January 7 and 8 when they head to Windsor, Colorado, to play in a crossover tournament at Power to Play Sports. WNCC will face Central Wyoming on January 7 and Western Wyoming the next day. The Cougars' next home contest will be on January 10 when they host Casper College.

LCCC                      26 56 – 82

WNCC                   35 54 – 89

WNCC

Carter Brown 10, Rodney Sawyer 21, Biko Johnson 13, Carl Thorpe 4, Agwa Nywesh 14, Chancelor Johnson 1, Turumbil Zaki 2, Them Koang 24.

LCCC

Derrick Harden 3, Ghared Harden 7, Xavier McCord 7, Nolan Causwell 26, Jaedon Bradley 17, Max Reyes 22.