The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team suffered another last-second 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,