The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team put five in double figures and had to come back from an 18-point, second-half deficit to top Northwest College in overtime 87-81 in a contest that saw a total of 52 free throw attempts and 36 fouls. WNCC shot 23 of 31 from the free throw line to get the win.

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said his team kept fighting to get the win.

                "We never quit. We get down and no matter what it is, we just get the next possession and get a score and go on to the next possession," Engel said. "I thought there was a chance that we would run away with it in the first half up by 10 or 12 and the next thing you know we are down by 18 in the second half. A lot of that was turnovers and some was rebounds, but whatever it was our guys showed a lot of good and a lot of heart and we found a way to pull one out tonight."

                Engel said he is hoping that they can avoid having to come back in the second half to get wins and put two good halves together.

                "I hope this doesn't become another thing like it did last year," Engel said. "We don't want to keep getting down and we still having confidence to come back. We have to put a quit to that. The plays we made when we were coming out of that deficit, we need to do that in the first half. We have to build leads. We have to sustain a lead. It will teach us to get back to practice and work with what we are struggling with. What is it that is causing us not to value the ball and retain the basketball in those possessions."

                The men's contest was a barn-burner with plenty of electricity in the crowd from the fans as well as the players. WNCC led 11-4 early in the first half and led 24-12 after six straight points from Them Koang. WNCC led 31-29 late before Northwest scored the final five points of the half to hold a 36-31 lead at halftime.

                Northwest came out of the locker room in the second half hot as they bolted to an 18-point led at 51-33. Northwest led 59-48 with about nine minutes to play. A key play came moments later when Northwest went up 67-57 and led 70-60 after a old-fashioned 3-point play by Bryson Stephens.

                Things changed after that as Biko Johnson hit two treys to bring the Cougars to within 70-68. Northwest went back up 72-68 with two minutes to play. WNCC kept battling as Johnson hit two free throws and then Koang had one free throw to bring the Cougars to within one, 72-71 with 1:55 to play.

                Moments later Agwa Nywesh hit a trey with 1:13 to play to put WNCC up 74-71. It was the Cougars first lead since late in the first half. The play was hard from that point on as both teams battled on the boards. With 39.8 seconds to play, David Ayala Cordova hit two free throws to tie the game at 74. WNCC had two chances to score but couldn't get the ball in the net and Northwest got the rebound with 14 seconds to play in regulation. The Trappers called a time out with 5.4 seconds, but Northwest couldn't get the final shot to force overtime.

                The extra five minutes saw Rodney Sawyer score first with a bucket for the Cougars. The lead see-sawed with both teams tied twice early on, the last time at 78-78. Koang then put WNCC up for good with a bucket. Turumbil Zaki followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play for an 83-78 lead. Northwest cut the lead to three, but Sawyer hit two free throws with 47 seconds to play for an 85-81 lead. Carter Brown sealed the game with two free throws with 14 seconds to play for the 87-81 win.

                Brown led the way with 20 points with three rebounds and four 3-pointers. Sawyer followed with 18 points and eight boards, while Koang had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson added 13 points while Nywesh had 11.

                WNCC will next be in action over the weekend when they head to Liberal, Kansas, for two games on Saturday and Sunday, including a talented Seward County Community College squad that has a guard that committed to Texas A&M.

                Northwest College will stay in Scottsbluff for a game on Tuesday evening when they play the Nebraska All-stars at Cougar Palace beginning at 7:30 p.m. Some of the players playing for the Nebraska All-stars include former Cougars Trent Harris, Austin Hoffman, Rich Williams, and Marlon Sierra.

Men's Game

Northwest          36 38 7 – 81

WNCC (2-0)         31 43 13 – 87

NORTHWEST

Zane Langrehr 3, David Ayala Cordova 14, Oluwaseyi Oyeku 4, Juan Camargo Telez 9, Bryson Stephens 29, Alex Pena Avila 6, Alan Dibongue Swenson 16.

WNCC

Carter Brown 20, Rodney Sawyer 18, Biko Johnson 13, Carl Thorpe 5, Agwa Nywesh 11, Turumbil Zaki 3, Them Koang 17.