TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The Eastern Wyoming College men’s basketball team sank four free throws with under 10 seconds in the game to come away with a thrilling 67-64 win over Western Nebraska Community College on Sunday at Torrington, Wyoming.
It was the second time the two Highway 26 schools have met. The first contest back on November 16, saw the Lancers easily earn a 90-63 win. Sunday afternoon, it was a different type of contest as both teams battled each other to the end.
WNCC head coach Billy Engel said his team didn’t play well and had too many mistakes that cost them the contest. WNCC was playing without two starters who were out for various reasons.
“We didn’t play good enough. We were missing a couple guys and that made it more important to go above and beyond and play harder,” Engel said. “We didn’t do enough things right. Congrats to Eastern Wyoming for making some plays. We are disappointed in our lack of being able to capitalize on moments today.”
The whole game was a back and forth affair and coming down the stretch, it was the team that played harder and didn’t make mistakes.
“Missing free throws, missing open shots, missing assignments on offense, and missing assignments on defense and we weren’t able to execute on big moments and had mistakes all over the place tonight,” Engel said.
Even with the mistakes and turnovers the Cougars had, WNCC had ample opportunities to win the contest. The Lancers capitalized when they needed to with under a minute to play by playing tough defense to force two big turnovers and then hit clutch free throws by Kayden Toldson and Quincey Taylor to get the win.
Up until the final minute of the contest, it was a battle. WNCC started the contest on a terror, jumping to a 10-4 lead behind six points from Carl Thorpe and then led 20-12 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Biko Johnson and Chancelor Johnson.
That 8-point lead soon would be erased by the Lancers as EWC came storming back to grab a 26-24 lead on a 3-pointer by Izayah Elize and went up 29-26 on a trey by Nikola Ivkovic. EWC led 38-33 at halftime.
The second half saw EWC stay in front for much of the half. The Lancers led by six points at several times including 55-49. WNCC started coming back as the Cougars tied the game at 57-57 on a Biko Johnson bucket with 4:26 to play.
The Lancers answered with four straight points to go back in front 61-57. WNCC came back to knot the game with 2:15 to play on a Agwa Nywesh bucket. The final two minutes was when the game got really intense as both teams played strong defensively.
EWC took a 62-61 lead on a free throw by Tom Mark with 1:54 to play. Nywesh added a free throw himself to tie the game at 62-62 with 1:30 to play. Eighteen seconds later, Toldson hit one of two free throws to give the Lancers a 63-62 lead.
Biko Johnson then put the Cougars in front for the first time since the midway in the first half when he hit a bucket with 25.3 seconds to play. After a timeout, EWC worked for a shot and was fouled with 10.8 seconds to play. Toldson sank both free throws for a 65-64 lead.
WNCC set up for a potential game winning drive and shot, but they turned the ball over in the backcourt and had to foul with 5.3 seconds to play. Taylor sank just one of two free throws for the Lancers giving the Cougars a chance. WNCC turned the ball over again in the backcourt and fouled Taylor with .9 seconds to play. Taylor sank the first free throw and then missed the second one to give the only chance of a tying shot a long, full-court heave to hopefully to go in which was just a little off the mark giving the Lancers the 3-point win.
WNCC shot 43 percent from the field and was just 18 percent from beyond the arc (2-of-11). The Lancers shot 41 percent from the field and were 28 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-18). The difference in the game was free throw shooting where WNCC was 10-of-17 compared to 18-of 32 for EWC.
WNCC enjoyed the rebounding edge against the Lancers 38-30. Thorpe pulled down 11 rebounds for WNCC while Nywesh had nine and Turumbil Zaki had eight.
WNCC had three in double figures. Nywesh led the way with 18 points followed by Biko Johnson and Thorpe with 12 each.
The Lancers also had three in double figures. Taylor led the way with 17 points followed by Toldson with 13 and Tom Mark with 12.
WNCC, 10-6, will be back in action this weekend when they host Lamar Community College on Friday and then Northeastern Junior College on Saturday. Friday’s Lamar contest is also WNCC alumni night as well as WNCC food pantry donation night. Saturday’s after tilt against NJC is Phi Theta Kappa 60th reunion day.
WNCC (10-6) 33 31 – 64
EWC (10-9) 38 29 – 67
WNCC
Rodney Sawyer 8, Biko Johnson 12, Carl Thorpe 12, Agwa Nywesh 18, Turumbil Zaki 9, Dimitrije Nikolic 2, Chancelor Johnson 3.
EWC
Tom Mark 12, Quincey Taylor 17, Kayden Toldson 13, Nikolas Gustavson 9, Enzo Clouvel Urie 5, Nikola Ivkovic 9, Marko Krtinic 2.
