KNEB-AM 960 AM – 100.3 FM - WNCC men’s basketball set to host EWC on Wednesday

It will be Highway 26 battle when the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball hosts Eastern Wyoming College in the Cougars’ home-opener on Wednesday.

Action at Cougar Palace will begin at 6 p.m. and it will be the home debut of former Cougar assistant and now head coach Roybell Baez on Wednesday.

Baez and his team are excited to be showing the Scottsbluff/Gering community the talent on the team.

“It feels great to finally play at The Palace,” Baez said. “Our guys have been working hard and now they get to put the hard work out on the floor in front of Cougar nation.”

WNCC enters Wednesday’s contest with an 0-2 record, but they played well against Top 25 teams last weekend, taking No. 7 Salt Lake Community College to double overtime before falling 109-104.

The other contest was against No. 24 Snow College where they fell 112-67.

EWC comes into the contest at 1-1 after falling to two Region IX teams. The Lancers opened the season with a 62-59 loss to North Platte Community College before topping McCook Community College 70-58.

Baez said his team needs to be ready to play against a scrappy EWC team.

“EWC is a scrappy team who does a really good job of slowing the game down,” he said. “They also play great defense. They’re holding opponents to 60 ppg, which is really impressive.”

On the flipside, the Cougars are averaging 85.5 points a contest. WNCC has five players averaging in double figures. Elijah Hollins is averaging 21 points a game followed by Mathiang Maker at 12.5 and Elijah Burney at 12 points. Reece Randolph is averaging 11 points followed by Kellon Harris at 10.5 points a game.

The Lancers have three players averaging over double figures and two more at nine points a game. EWC is led by LaThario Miller at 13 points a contest followed by Jouk Mayan at 12.5 and Jumarion Weh at 12 points. Alain Nziza and Khayree Rashed are the two that are averaging nine points a contest.

Baez said for his team to win, they will need to play a complete game and take care of the ball.

“It’s going to take a complete game from our guys to win,” he said. “EWC is really well coached, and they aren’t going to beat themselves. We must defend and rebound if we want to have a chance tomorrow (Wednesday) night.”

Wednesday is the only game this week for the Cougar men. Their next game will be next week Tuesday, November 21, when they travel to Torrington for a women’s and men’s doubleheader followed by another home game on November 13 when they host Laramie County Community College.