The win drops the Cougars to 5-2 in the South Sub-region while North Platte goes to 3-4. The last time the Cougars lost to North Platte was in 1984-85 and the two teams didn’t play each other from 2009-10 season until renewing the rivalry in 2021-22 according to former NPCC sports information guru Mike Douty.

WNCC will have a couple days to heal up as they will host Trinidad State College and Otero College on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in sub-region contests.

Sunday’s contest was one where the Cougars started slow and found their groove after halftime.
The first quarter saw North Platte bolt to a 12-4 lead and led 15-7 after a 3-pointer by Allyah Herron. WNCC finished off the quarter with six straight points, all from freshman Verlyn Aviles to trail 15-13.

It was a 17-16 North Platte lead early. After neither team scored for close to two minutes, North Platte finally went on a 9-0 run to lead 26-16. After that, the teams exchanged buckets and WNCC trailed at halftime 30-22.

North Platte scored the first bucket of the third quarter for a 10-point lead. That was when the Cougars found their groove, going on a 15-0 run that was highlighted by two Zozefine Sipolina free throws with 6:12 to play to tie the game at 32-32. Juseana-Rae Delatori put the Cougars in front for the first time with a bucket at 5:44 and the Cougars and Cougars would get three more points from Celina Donyo for the 37-32 lead.

The two squads exchanged buckets after that and WNCC led after three quarters 43-41.
WNCC led 46-41 to start the fourth only to watch North Platte score seven unanswered points for a 48-46 lead. The knights went up 58-52 with about two minutes to play. WNCC came back and tied the game at 58-58 on an Aviles bucket with 41 seconds to play.

North Platte’s Reece Yahn hit two free throws with 43.2 seconds on the clock for the 60-58 lead. WNCC missed a shot and the Knights came down and made two points for a 62-58 lead. The Cougars’ Aviles was fouled with 21.1 seconds and made two free throws to make it 62-60. North Platte’s Herron hit one of two free throws for a 63-60 lead. WNCC turned the ball over with 11.9 seconds to play. WNCC had to foul and they did and North Platte missed both charity tosses but got the rebound and was fouled again. Again, the Cougars fouled and the Knights missed two more free throws and WNCC got the rebound with 8.8 seconds to play. The Cougars then missed a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Knights the win.

WNCC played just seven players because of injuries while several players are still recovering from illness. Aviles led the Cougars with 18 points followed by Charisma Johnson with 15 and Celina Donyo with 14.

North Platte 15 15 11 22 – 63
WNCC 13 9 21 17 – 60

NORTH PLATTE
Allyah Herron 21, Zally Mazarin 12, Dezirae Gonzalez 10, Alexa Stevens 6, Breonna Shelby 4, Kyenna Jackson 4, Ligia Thortvedt 2, Reece Vahn 2, Abigail Haas 2.

WNCC
Veralyn Aviles 18, Charisma Johnson 15, Celina Donyo 14, Juseana-Rae Delatori 8, Zozefine Sipolina 5.

WNCC men fall to North Platte in last seconds

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team suffered another last seconds South Sub-region loss Sunday afternoon as the North Platte Community College Knights received 27 points and seven 3-pointers from Brady Kennison to hold on for the 84-79 win.

The Cougars fall to 2-5 in the South Sub-region play and the Cougars have lost those five games by a combined 14 points. North Platte stays atop the standings at 6-1 and 14-8 overall.

WNCC will have little time to think about the contest as the Cougars host back-to-back sub-region games Wednesday and Thursday when Trinidad State College and Otero College come to Cougar Palace.

WNCC head coach Roybell Baez said the little things is what costing them the games, just like Sunday.

“Honestly, the free throw line and missed free throws and we lose by four points,” Baez said. “We missed three in a row there down the stretch and, you know, the game of basketball, especially at this level, it’s won and lost on really small margins that a lot of people don’t think seem to matter, and by people, I mean the players. But, you know, they’re first place and a really good team and we had to play 10 points better than we did tonight in order to even have shot. And again, we’re down three with the ball with 15 seconds and we turn it over.”

Baez said this team is showing that they can with the best teams, they just need to get over the hump.

“I mean, go look at our losses in conference. Two points, one point, three points, two points, and everything’s been by one possession,” he said. “So, to me, all that says is we have an opportunity to still make some kind of run, but it’s gonna take a lot of believing and a lot more work at practice and guys not getting down on themselves because I am sure these guys are in the dumps now. You know, when you win one, we lose one, you gotta just show up and keep fighting.”

This was a contest that both teams were practically even in considering how opposite the team’s records are. The two teams shot and made the same percentage (27-of-60 from the field), and the two combined for 23 3-pointers. North Platte had 11 treys while WNCC had 12. The two squads also each had 36 rebounds and 17 fouls.

The contest saw runs by both teams. North Platte opened the first half running to a 14-3 lead and led by 11 at 22-11 and later 24-16. WNCC made a run, going on a 12-2 run that saw five different players make a basket to take their first lead of the contest at 28-26.

North Platte came back with an 8-1 run to lead 34-29. The Cougars tied it again at 34 and trailed 38-36 with 6.3 seconds to play. WNCC hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would seem to have put the Cougars on top 39-38, but after further review on the instant replay, it was ruled the ball was on the tips of Isaiah St. Preux’s finger tips when the clock read 0.00, so the bucket was waved off.

The second half saw North Platte build two double-digit leads. The first at 55-45 on a Kennison 3-pointers and then later at 68-25 on a Brandon Domsch bucket. WNCC didn’t quite and they slowly battled back bucket-by-bucket. WNCC trailed 77-68 with about four minutes to play. With 2:22 left, Viktor Lukic-Gavric connected on a 3-pointer to make it a 2-point game, at 77-75. North Platte hit one free throw and Xavier Kirkpatrick got a shot to go with a minute to play to make it 78-77.

North Platte hit two more free throws for a 3-point lead with 55.1 seconds left. Kellon Harris nailed two free throws with 44.2 seconds after missing a dunk but getting fouled to make it 80-79. North Platte worked the ball and Kennison was fouled with 15.4 seconds to play and made two free throws to make it 82-79.

WNCC had a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but the Cougars turned the ball over with 9.1 seconds and the Knights hit two free throws to go up by five and the game.

WNCC put five in double figures, led by Kirkpatrick with 13 points followed by 12 points each from Harris and Melchi Egbeyemi. Withold Czerenkiewicz and Amare Jackson each had 10 points in the loss.

North Platte 38 46 – 84
WNCC 36 43 – 79

NORTH PLATTE
Brady Kennison 27, Winston Allen 18, Justis Michael 12, John Sims IV 9, Sedrick Narl 6, Josh Osayanrnion 3, Dennis Rocha 3, Joseph Badejo 2, Brandon Domsch 2, Daniel Nwauzu 2.

WNCC
Xavier Kirkpatrick 13, Kellon Harris 12, Melchi Egbeyemi 12, Witold Czerenkiewicz 10, Amare Jackson 10, Toms Linis 6, Noah Jones 5, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 5, Dorin Nguema 3, Isaiah St. Preux 3.

WNCC baseball team opens up in February

It is hard to realize that college baseball season is upon us, but the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team will open the season this weekend when they head to New Mexico for a 4-game series.

WNCC head coach Mike Jones, who is beginning his 24th season at WNCC, said the team is ready to get playing for real during a windy and cold January of practices.

“This group is definitely ready to get going, We bring back a lot of experienced guys. They’ve been waiting a long time to get back on the field and compete for another regional championship,” Jones said. “I think this team is 100 percent excited and ready to go.”

Jones loves what he is seeing with this team right now during the January practices.

“We got a lot or returners, a lot of experience,” Jones said. “So far, this team has been well organized and self-disciplined. It’s been a close knit group of guys. Once we go play for real, we’ll find out a lot more.”

The Cougars will spend the first 18 days in February on the road. The Cougars open with New Mexico Military Institute February 6-7 and then travel to New Mexico Junior College February 13-14 before traveling to McCook Community College February 18. The team’s first home games are slated for February 21-22 when they face Miles Community College.

Last year, the team opened against New Mexico Military and split a 4-game series. WNCC won both games the opening day 5-1 and 12-8 and then lost the second day 8-0 and 13-4. Jones knows that New Mexico Military will be a challenge.

“They’re a really good team. We’ve been going down there for a while now and it’s been a lot of mixed results,” he said. “Chris does a really good job down there. They’re a really good team. They’re extremely talented. We can definitely go down there and compete but we’re a good team also. So, we will see how it goes.”

What makes this year’s Cougar team dangerous is the amount of talent that is on the team. WNCC returns 14 players that either started a year ago regularly or saw plenty of playing time whether in the field or on the mound as reserves.

The returners that saw plenty of action a year ago included position players Vaughn and Cooper Wilson, Garrison Burns, Ren Sato, Catcher Gladysh, Jase Satterfield, Will Harbison, and Austin Cooper.

The returner pitching staff include Scottsbluff’s Carter Reisig, Marshall Forsyth, and Allard Helms.
Jones said that transfer Harrison Hart, who is from Millard South High School in Gretna and played a year at Southeast Community College, transferred to WNCC this season. Hart is a 6-foot-2 outfielder that Jones is high on.

“We do have some good freshmen that are going to blend in and Harrison Hart was a nice transfer guy for us that’s gonna blend in and play for us quite a bit,” he said.

Jones is also high on a couple freshman pitchers that will see starting nods the opening weekend. Peyton Denny (from Chandler, Arizona) is a left-handed pitcher out of Arizona that we’re going to give him a start in the opening weekend. There is a freshman that we’re going to be counting on. Arthur Saumande, from France, is another guy that we’re gong to be counting on as a freshman. He’s a left-handed pitcher and he’s going to start game one. Those two guys we’re going to be counting on a whole lot.”

Another red-shirt freshman that saw action with the Western Nebraska Pioneers over the summer is Alliance’s Kaden Ferguson. Moi Panduro, who also pitched for the Pioneers will also be key.

The entire pitching staff of sophomores, freshmen, and red-shirts include Peyton Markheim of Scottsbluff, Saumande of Lille, France, Javier Pena of Panama City, Panama, Ferguson of Alliance, Trevor Beutner of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Allard Helms of Utrecht, The Netherlands, Enesto Mendiondo of New City City, Hudson Schwab of Hudson, Texas, Carter Reisig of Scottsbluff, Jack McCrea of Berthoud, Colorado, Payton Denny of Chandler, Arizona, Moi Panduro of Scottsbluff, Marshall Forsyth of Houston, Texas, and Ian Graf Mank of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The position players on the active roster include Jude Russell of Ashten, Ontario, Garrison Burns of Kearney, Dakota Alber of Commerce City, Colorado, Brandon Waltermath of Brighton, Colorado, Ty Buetner of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Jack Sughroue of Hastings, Ren Sato of Yokohama, Japan, Cooper Wilson of Riverton, Utah, Catcher Gladysh of Brighton, Colorado, Vaughn Wilson of Riverton, Utah, Jase Satterfield of Grand Junction, Colorado, Will Harbison of Parker, Colorado, Harrison Hart of Gretna, Daniel Chavez of West Palm Beach, Florida, Austin Cooper of Bozeman, Montana, and Ismael Camara of Paris, France.

What Jones likes about this team is there are so many guys that will be contributing to the team in so many ways and these first two months are critical for the players’ growth.

“From sophomores to freshman, we have Vaughn Wilson, Catcher Gladysh, Carter Reisig, Allard Helms, Marshall Forsyth, Will Harbison, Harrison Hart, Austin Cooper. Boy, there is going to be so many guys,” Jones said. “Jude Russell is a freshman. Daniel Chavez as a freshman, Ty Beutner and Trevor Beutner, both Beutner brothers. I mean we go so many guys that are going to be contributing to this team. It’s hard to even know which ones are going to be the best right now.”

Jones said the month of February is the month to see what everyone can do for the important conference games in March and April as they go for a Region IX title. The last time the Cougars won the regional title was in 2021.

“For us the month of February is extremely important, and, even into March now,” he said. “We need to play games; we need to play real games. We need to compete against other opponents. We need to make mistakes. We need to come back and then fix mistakes and keep evolving as a team and find our own identity. All this stuff is going to happen in the month of February and March.”