The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team continues to build steam in the Region IX tournament as they get set for a quarterfinal contest Thursday in La Junta, Colorado.

                The Cougars, 18-13, advanced to the elite eight after going on the road to earn a last-second win over Laramie County Community College 80-79 to advance in the regional tournament. WNCC will take on Casper College Thursday at 5 p.m. in the second round.

                Other second round contests at the Region IX tournament will pit North Platte Community College facing Miles Community College at 1 p.m., Gillette College taking on Northeastern Junior College at 3 p.m., and Otero Junior College meeting Central Wyoming College at 7 p.m.

                A win Thursday evening will move the Cougars into a semifinal match against the winner of the Otero and Central Wyoming contest on Friday. The championship is set for Saturday with the winner advancing to the men's national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, March 14-19.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck said anything is possible in this regional tournament, especially after looking at the number of upsets in the first round where lower seeds upended higher seeds.

                "It shows the depth of this region, you can't take anybody lightly," he said. "Any team that does that will get tripped up. We are not going to put ourselves in that position. We are going to solely look at our opponent and continue to ask ourselves what we need to do to win that game."

                The Cougars win on Saturday over LCCC gave the Cougars plenty of confidence as they trailed much of the second half, but took the lead at 79-77 and then won the game as Chase Mason was fouled attempting a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Mason needed just one free throw for the win with no time on the clock and calmly hit his second free throw for the win.

                "I think our minds are in a good place right know," Beck said. "The players understand the gravity of the situation. I think we can compete with anybody in this region and if we have our minds right and focused. We just need to take this one approach at a time and put the time and energy into Casper and I think we will be pleased with the outcome if we go out and execute our game plan."

                Last year the Cougars made the quarterfinals as well, topping Lamar in the first round before falling to Northwest College in the quarterfinals. This is the third straight year the Cougars have made the second round. The last time the Cougars were in the semifinals was in 2012 when they were a couple minutes from making the finals but Casper College came back and registered a 70-68 win at Cougar Palace.

                For WNCC to make that return trip to the semifinals, Beck said it starts on the defensive side of the ball.

                "It is the defensive side of the floor. At the last game at their [Casper] place, we played terrible," he said. "We made 24 turnovers and gave them 32 points off of our turnovers. We shot 48 percent from the free throw line and lost by two. We have to take care of the ball, do a better job at the free throw line, dominate them on the boards, and we just need to do the little things."

                Ironic as it is, WNCC can return back to the semifinals by beating Casper College on Thursday. The two Region IX powers have split games this season. WNCC won handily on Jan. 18, 89-75, before the Thunderbirds had to hang on to register an 89-87 win at Casper on Feb. 23.

                "We have had great practices this week and we have made some good adjustments to some of the sets that Casper runs," Beck said. "We like the match-up and excited to play."

                What makes WNCC hard to defend is the diverse scoring the Cougars possess with any number of players capable of igniting for double-digit scoring. Three Cougars are averaging in double figures, led by Tyrell Williams at 12 points a game followed by Michael Sparks at 11.9 and Phil Fayne at 11.6. WNCC is also getting 9.3 points from Chase Mason, 8.8 points from Michael Connor, 7.6 points from Mason Smith, and 6.8 points from Daylon Harris.

                WNCC has also seen big outputs from two other players lately that has stepped up their game. Sophomore Derrick Bowers, who is averaging 6.1 points a game, has scored 59 points in the last four games, including seven 3-pointers. In the game against Casper two weeks ago, Bowers ignited for 22 points and five 3-pointers. In the win against LCCC on Saturday, Bowers had 19 points and two treys.

                Another player that has stepped up is Bo McVay, who has connected on six treys in the last three games. In the LCCC win, McVay, who is a Mitchell High graduate, scored 15 points with three 3-pointers.

                Beck said their depth makes it hard for other teams to defend because anyone can score.

                "Bo McVay played awesome down at Laramie County and Derrick has had two really good games in a row for us," he said. "We didn't have a single player named first, second, or third all-region team but that gives our team extra motivation to go out and win this thing. We might not have an all-region player, but maybe we can be the best team. We are focusing on team play right now."