Diante Mitchell poured in 35 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team earned an 84-80 victory over Cloud County Community College Friday evening in the Thanksgiving Classic at Cougar Palace.
In the earlier game on Friday, NJC remained unbeaten with a 91-85 win over Seward County. NJC trailed 51-44 at intermission and shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half to get the win. Duol Moyot led the Plainsmen with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Seward County was led by Niem Stevenson with 33 points and 11 rebound.
The Thanksgiving Classic will wrap up on Saturday when Northeastern Junior College will play Cloud County at 1 p.m. followed by WNCC taking on Seward County at 3 p.m.
The Cougar’s contest saw Mitchell with the hot hand where the 6-foot-1 guard from Syracuse, Utah, was near-perfect from beyond the arc, nailing 4-of-5 3-pointers. The Cougars as a team nailed seven treys for the game.
A big key in the win was free throw shooting where the two teams shot over 81 percent from the stripe. The Cougars nailed 27 of 33 for 82 percent, while Cloud County was 28 of 33 for 85 percent.
Mitchell and Joel Einfeldt were perfect from the line. The two guards were 22-of-22 combined. Mitchell was 11-of-11, while Einfeldt was 10-of-10. The two freshmen guards were the only Cougars in double figures. Einfeldt popped in 16 points.
The contest was close despite the Cougars leading through 90% of the game. Cloud County only held two leads, once at 4-2 and the second time at 6-4. After that, it was WNCC that held the lead.
In the first half, WNCC held a 14-12 lead before racing on a 13-4 run. The run was led by back-to-back 3-pointers by Mitchell to help the Cougars lead 27-16. The Cougars led 32-19 in the first half before the T-Birds scored nine straight points to slice the lead to 32-28 on a bucket by Marvin Smith.
The Cougars game back as Mitchell hit a bucket and then nailed four throws to help WNCC lead 40-34 at the break. Mitchell had 21 points at halftime to lead the team.
WNCC came out lightning quick in the second half, going on an 18-4 run to lead by 20 points, 58-38, with 11:35 to play. The damage in the early part of the second half was highlighted by 3-pointers by Einfeldt and Mitchell.
WNCC led by 12, 67-55, with about seven minutes to play before Cloud County made a serious run, slicing the 69-67 with 4”28 to play. Einfeldt avoided the T-Birds from tying the contest as he hit four straight free throws to put WNCC back up by six.
Cloud County kept cutting the lead to four points, but two Brandon Morley dunks would put WNCC back up by six points, including 81-75 with a minute to play. The T-Birds came right back to slice the lead to three points on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Lorenzo Dillard with 55.8 seconds to play.
Einfeldt came back down to hit two free throws with 24.2 seconds. The came stayed intense as Assane Diop hit a bucket with 15.4 seconds to play to bring the T-Birds back to 83-80. Morley, however iced the game with one of two free throws with 6.2 seconds for the Cougars fifth win of the season.
Mitchell and Einfeldt were the only Cougars in double figures with 35 and 16 points. Cloud County was led by Marvin Smith with 26 points followed by Shaun Stewart with 15 and Lorenzo Dillard with 13.
First Game
NJC 44 47 – 91
Seward 51 34 – 85
SEWARD COUNTY
Niern Stevenson 33, Brian Bridgeforth 12, Evan Allen 4, Malcolm Hill-Bey 14, Quentoin Purtue 2, Secean Johnson 13, Verdell Mays 2, Tyreke Sharp 2, Frank Johnson 3.
NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
Jamal Crocker 7, Odessa Lear 12, Arek Mawien 9, Duol Mayot 15, Isiah Cooper 4, Bronson Moton 11, Jamal Peterson 7, Joe Uke 26.
Second Game
Cloud 34 46 — 80
WNCC 40 44 — 84
CLOUD COUNTY
Shaun Stewart 15, Lorenzo Dillard 13, Derek Henry 2, Assane Diop 8, Marvin Smith 26, Emeka Okoronkwo 3, Karnal Shasi 3, Lionel Gomis 6, Jeremiah Brooks 4.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Tyler Crosbie 8, Diante Mitchell 35, DouDou Gueye 5, Joel Einfeldt 16, Derrick Bowers 3, Brandon Morley 7, Austin Clark 6. Julio Guity 4.