Sports South Platte Sentinel Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014 Page 20 NJC knocks off third-ranked North Platte for first place tie in region By Ken McDowell Sports Editor Key free throws and defensive stops in the final seconds propelled the Northeastern Junior College (NJC) Plainsmen to a 7066 victory over the North Platte, Neb., Community College Knights Tuesday in the Bank of Colorado Event Center. North Platte entered the contest ranked third in the nation with NJC ranked 15th. The win also avenged a 69-60 setback at North Platte on Dec. 11, 2013. NJC improves to 22-2 with its 10th straight win and currently is in a tie for first place with North Platte in the South Sub-Region with a 9-2 record. North Platte falls to 21-2 overall. The game had several implications as NJC still has a chance to win the South SubRegion title and host the Region IX Tournament. However, as NJC Coach Eddie Trenkle explained, a couple of things still have to happen in the event of a tie-breaker. “If we end up in a tie-breaker with North Platte, then they will look at the next highest seed in head-tohead matchups, which is McCook,” he said. “There are still four or five teams that could still be there, so it goes seed to seed to seed, and after that it’s point totals. “North Platte beat us by nine points at their place and we won by four points tonight, so they would win that tie-breaker. But there is still a lot of season left and I told our guys if we win out and go 282, then that’s not a bad spot to be in. Right now it’s so far in advance and we just have to approach every game as a big deal for us.” NJC jumped out to an 8-0 lead in Tuesday’s contest on a pair of buckets by sophomore Duol Mayot and one each by sophomores Bronson Moton and Jamel Crocker. North Platte’s first points of the game came from the free throw line with 13:48 left in the first half by sophomore Ethan Montalvo. North Platte would go on to take a 34-32 halftime lead by hitting 16-out-of-16 free throws. North Platte opened a 39-33 lead early in the second half before NJC mounted a comeback that eventually gave the Plainsmen the lead at 41-39. Moton, who was held to 2 points in the first half, had a pair of buckets, including a dunk that gave NJC the lead. Jamal Peterson, a 5-10 sophomore, also had a pair of buckets – one where he came out of nowhere for a tip-in over the tallest players on the floor. Mayot and Moton scored backto-back hoops moments later to increase NJC’s lead to 61-55 before North Platte had one more gasp to battle back to take a 64-63 advantage with 3:26 left. But Moton had the answer as he Sophomore Odessa Lear (3) fights for a bucket in the first half of Tuesday's game and in the second half sophomore Bronson Moton (13) goes up for a big second half dunk which gave NJC a 41-39 lead. (SPS Photos By Ken McDowell.) scored a hoop and was fouled. He canned his free throw to give NJC a 66-64 lead just to see the Knights tie the score at 66-66 with 1:46 left. With 1:14 remaining Crocker was fouled on a shot, and took his time at the charity stripe and sank both free throws to give NJC a 6866 advantage. After another huge defensive stop, Moton was fouled with :29 left and canned both free throws, which proved to be the icing on the cake. North Platte had a couple of more shots but came up short as the Plainsmen came away with the huge South Sub-Region win. “Defense was a big key to the win, and both teams play great defense,” Trenkle said. “That’s how North Platte makes your life miserable because they are so good on defense. “We knew in the second half we needed to do a better job defensively, even though they shot 16 free throws in the first half. We also became more aggressive at the basket in the second half along with doing an outstanding job defensively.” Mayot led NJC with 19 points, Moton 13, freshman Arek Mawien 8, freshman Lake Reed 7, Crocker and Peterson 6 each, sophomore Joe Uke, Jr., 5 and sophomore Odessa Lear and freshman Isaiah Cooper 3 apiece. Montalvo led all scorers with 26 points. North Platte looked more human at the free throw line, hitting 7-outof-11 charity tosses and finishing 23-for-27 for the game for a blistering 85%. NJC was 15-for-23 from the stripe for 65%. NJC was out-rebounded 31-22, but the Plainsmen did force 19 turnovers while handing the ball over only 9 times. The Plainsmen won a pair of South Sub-Region games last weekend, defeating Trinidad State College 98-73 at home Friday and gaining a sweet revenge victory Saturday at Otero Junior College in La Junta, 89-76. In Friday’s win over Trinidad State, NJC scored early and often to run away with the victory. Moton led NJC with 20 points, sophomore Joe Dellenbach 16, Mawien 13, Mayot 12, Lear and Peterson 9 each, Crocker 8, Cooper and Uke 4 apiece and freshman Dominic Robinson 3. Moton and Mawein each had 7 rebounds and Dellenbach 6. Cooper led in assists with 5 and Moton had 5 steals. Saturday’s game at Otero was huge, not only in the South SubRegion, but because the Plainsmen dropped an 83-78 decision to the Rattlers at home on Dec. 6, 2013. In the re-match Saturday, NJC trailed 34-32 at halftime but outscored Otero 57-42 in the second half to run away with the win. Five Plainsmen reached doubledigits, with Lear busting loose for 25 points. Peterson added 16, Moton 14 and Crocker and Mayot 11 each. Cooper followed with 7, Dellenbach 3 and Mawien 2. Moton ripped down 12 rebounds, Cooper had 3 assists and Lear and Moton 3 steals each. NJC will host McCook, Neb., Community College tonight (Wednesday) in another big South Sub-Region contest at 7 p.m. NJC played at McCook on Dec. 14, 2013, and pulled away for a 10393 win in the high-scoring contest. “This is another big game for us,” Trenkle said. “Our kids will be ready to play and I don’t see a letdown after tonight’s game. Sometimes it’s easier to come back and play the next night, so hopefully we will have another big crowd here that will help us.” The Plainsmen will be off for nine days after tonight’s contest before traveling to Trinidad State Fri., Feb 14 and to Lamar Community College Sat., Feb. 15. 40% off SALE Save 40% on Merillat and Schrock Brand CabinetsSale ends 02-28-14 Mead Lumber 265 E Chestnut St Sterling, Colorado (970) 522-4466 Contact Melinda Pfeifer Get a FREE Crosley dishwasher with any cabinet purchase $3,500 or more.
© Copyright 2024 ExpyDoc
