Kellon Harris scored 24 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team stayed in the hunt for a first-round home playoff game with the 74-65 win over McCook Community College Wednesday evening at Cougar Palace.
The win moves the Cougars to 5-7 in conference play and 9-19 overall. McCook drops to 6-5 in conference and 16-11 overall.
Witold Czerenkiewicz, who had three big 3-pointers in the game, said it was a good win for his team as they continue to build for the playoffs.
"We tried to share the ball, let everybody play, find the best shot in the offense," Czerenkiewicz said. "And I think in the ending of the second half we were able to do that, to find the best shot, find the man who was open and had a good streak. Also, on defense, we could get some stops, maybe not all the time, but we could get some rebounds and then run the play on the other half of the court."
This was a big win for the Cougars, especially defensively as they held McCook to just 65 points, which was the best defensive performance all season. The 65 points is the lowest score that the Cougars have held an opponent in 55 games. The previous best was on November 6, 2024, when Eastern Wyoming College only scored 64 points.
The defensive effort was really bit late in the second half in the last five minutes where the Cougars trailed 60-54 with 4:35 to play. It was then the defense went to town, holding McCook to just five points while reeling off 20 points of their own.
"The last five minutes were decent, but I think what really made the job is our face on defense when were up by 20 in the first half. Then some things didn't go our way and we went down by which is okay, but we kept fighting, kept believing," Czerenkiewicz said. "The last five minutes, they got some advance but we were able to get some stops in a row with like one or two minutes to go. That really helped us."
The final five minutes was the difference in the game as something clicked on defense as they got key stops, key rebounds. Trailing 60-54, Dorian Nguema got things started with his first bucket of the game. Then it was three straight 3-pointers, two from Kellon Harris and one sandwiched in from Xavier Kirkpatrick. For a 65-60 lead.
McCook finally hit a bucket with about 2:30 to play, but WNCC got a big old-fashioned 3-point play from Viktor Lukic-Gavric to go up 68-62. The defense then force a big turnover and Amarea Jackson hit a big shot for a 70-62 lead.
Harris sealed the game as he hit four free throws with under 40 seconds to play to get the win.
Czerenkiewicz said they can build off this win going forward, as they have two more regular-season conference games left, and they are important to win if they want to host a playoff game. WNCC will travel to North Platte Community College on Saturday and then travel to Northeastern Junior College on February 28 for the last regular-season game.
North Platte lost to Northeastern on Wednesday, 70-69, which makes the race for the top four places even tighter. Other games on Wednesday in the South saw Southeast top Otero 89-78 and Trinidad State defeat Lamar 90-68.
"We'll probably enjoy this as we should, but as soon as we go tomorrow to the gym to shoot free throws or do whatever, we're gonna switch our minds and we will try to win another one," he said. "That's nice to have some confidence boost, especially this is our only second two game win streak in a row. We didn't have that and we're struggling here in our home gym, but we were able to win today, which gives us some confidence."
WNCC had just two in double figures. Harris led the way with 24 points with four 3-pointers followed by Noah Jones with 12 points and two treys. Czerenkiewicz finished with nine points, all 3-pointers, while Lukic-Gavric had eight points.
Before the game on Wednesday, WNCC recognized the seven sophomores who played their final regular-season game in Cougar Palace. The seven included Czerenkiewicz, Harris, Jones, Isaiah St. Preux, Toms Linis, and Dorin Nguema. Czerenkiewicz said his two years at WNCC has been special as he got to walk out to center court with his dorm mom.
"Western Nebraska became like a second home for me. I'm very happy that I could spend my first years of college here and this night meant a lot," he said. "Walking out with my dorm family, which they helped me a lot since the last season. They were always there for me, so it was a very big moment. Also having my friends in the bleachers in the crowd. That was very nice. I have a lot of fans. There are some of my best friends in here that they want to see me succeed. I want to see them succeed also, so I'm very happy that they put some effort to recognize me."
McCook 33 32 – 65
WNCC 39 35 – 74
MCCOOK
Nate Coley 22, Djibril Diawara 13, Alier Alier 12, Lukas Gudavicius 8, Mo Diao 7, Vladimir Brkovic 3.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 24, Noah Jones 12, Witold Czerenkiewicz 9, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 8, Melchi Egbeyemi 6, Amare Jackson 4, Xavier Kirkpatrick 4, Toms Linis 3, Dorin Nguema 2, Isaiah St. Preux 2.