The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team lost another heartbreaker as Trinidad State College's TaRea Fulcher hit a bucket just as the clock registered zero to give the Trojans a 74-72 South Sub-region win Wednesday evening at Cougar Palace.
WNCC falls to 2-6 in the conference while Trinidad State goes to 3-4. WNCC will have little time to rest as they host Otero College Thursday night at 7 p.m. Otero is 2-5 in the conference after they lost to Northeastern Junior College Wednesday night 76-65.
Other conference games on Wednesday saw Southeast top North Platte 77-74, McCook defeat Lamar 101-90, Casper defeated Laramie County 85-83, and Gillette defeated Central Wyoming in double overtime 74-73.
Wednesday's contest with Trinidad State resembled a chess match as the two teams each made moves to take the lead all through the game. There were 16 ties in the contest and 15 lead changes.
WNCC's largest lead was seven points early in the first half at 20-13 while Trinidad's largest lead was four points at 13-9.
WNCC had the 20-13 lead in the first and led 26-19 late in the first. That was when Trinidad made a run, going on an 8-3 run to trail WNCC 29-27 at halftime.
The second half was back and forth as both teams were not going to give an inch as the final 20 minutes saw five ties and 11 lead changes. WNCC had 4-point leads early and then had a 63-59 lead with just over five minutes to play. Trinidad scored six straight to take a 65-63 lead. WNCC retook the lead at 68-65 on a Noah Jones old-fashioned 3-point play with three minutes to play.
Trinidad resumed the lead with 1:22 left on the clock at 69-68. Kellon Harris hit two free throws with 1:03 left for the Cougars 70-68 lead. WNCC then forced a big turnover with 41.5 seconds to play and Viktor Lukic-Gavric made two free throws with 23.6 left for a 72-69 lead. Trinidad tied the game at 72 when Fulcher hit a 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left. WNCC came down for a chance to win the game, but turned the ball over with 2.4 seconds to play. Trinidad set up for the final play and threw the ball to half court and Fulcher drove to just within the 3-point arc and buried a jumper just as the shot clock went off for the game winner.
WNCC shot 36 percent for the field and made 6-of-31 3-pointers. Trinidad shot 40 percent from the field and made 8-of-24 triples. Free throw shooting was pretty even as WNCC was 18-of-22 from the line while Trinidad was 20-of-25.
WNCC had three players in double figures, led by Harris with 16 points followed by Xavier Kirkpatrick with 12 and Lukic-Gavric with 11.
Trinidad 27 47 – 74
WNCC 29 43 – 72
TRINIDAD
Demorae Pritchett 15, Dylan Omweno 15, TaRea Fulcher 12, Maurice Thomas 10, Kenny Black-Knox 9, Donavahan Cain 4, Damarius Taylor 3, Woul Chak 2, Logan Montgomery 2, Sean Spencer 2.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 16, Xavier Kirkpatrick 12, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 11, Noah Jones 7, Amare Jackson 7, Dorin Nguema 6, Toms Linis 4, Witold Czerenkiewicz 4, Isaiah St. Preux 3, Melchi Egbeyemi 2.