The Western Nebraska Community College and Southeast Community College men's basketball team battled tooth and nail with neither team getting a lead more than five points all night.

                In the end, the Southeast Bobcats made clutch buckets in the final minute and then held on to earn the 87-84 win over the Cougars Saturday afternoon.

                In the four home games to open the second semester, the Cougars lost all four by a combined 10 points. WNCC will look to get back on the winning track when they hit the road for a pair of games at Trinidad State College on Friday and Otero College on Thursday. Trinidad State is 0-2 in the sub-region and 7-10 overall and Otero is also 0-2 and 1-15 overall.

                Saturday's contest was a game where the Cougars couldn't have played any harder as they kept pace with the Bobcats. The two squads had 11 ties and 16 lead changes in the contest between the two evenly matched teams.

                The two squads were knotted at 27-27 early and that was when WNCC went on a 6-0 run to take their biggest lead at 33-27 and later led 38-32 on a Kellon Harris old-fashioned 3-point play. Southeast cut the Cougar lead to 39-37 but Melchi Egbeyemi hit two 3-pointers to close the half to give the Cougars the 45-40 halftime lead.

                WNCC opened the second half and led 47-42 as Harris hammered down an alley-oop dunk. It was then that the Bobcats went on an 11-2 run to grab a 53-49 lead. The two squads kept trading buckets, and the Cougars finally took the lead at 64-63 on a Harris 3-pointer and then an Isaiah St. Preux bucket with 8:50 to play.

                That was when things got interesting that kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Southeast had an 80-75 lead with 4:10 to play. WNCC knotted the score at 80-80 on five points from Harris. WNCC had an 84-83 lead on a Toms Linis bucket with 1:38 to play. Southeast's Arthur DeSilva Lima Videira got a dunk with 52.5 seconds left for an 85-84 lead. WNCC had plenty of opportunities to take the lead but turned the ball over with around 45 seconds to play. Southeast hit two free throws with 26.9 seconds left for a 3-point lead. The Cougars had a chance to tie the game and force overtime, but two attempts at a 3-point shot didn't go and a third attempt didn't get off when the final buzzer rang.

                WNCC shot 46 percent from the field and buried 11-of-35 3-pointers. Southeast was 50 percent from the field and made 8-of-17 3-pointers.

                WNCC had balanced scoring as five players finished with double figures. Harris led the Cougars with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Scottsbluff High graduate also had two 3-pointers. Linis and Egbeyemi each had 13 points while Noah Jones, Amare Jackson, and Viktor Lukic-Gavric each had 11 points.

Southeast        40 47 – 87
WNCC             45 39 – 84
SOUTHEAST
PJ Newbill 21, Marquis Tolliver 18, Carson Forsey 18, Arthur Videira 8, Jamar'i Franklin 8, Brandon Shoop 6, Lachlin Curtin 4, Chang Deng 2, Babul Choal 2.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 19, Toms Linis 13, Melchi Egbeyemi 13, Noah Jones 11, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 11, Amare Jackson 11, Isaiah St. Preux 5, Xavier Kirkpatrick 1.