The Rustler men’s basketball team fulfilled two goals under first-year head coach Brad Schmit on Saturday at Rustler Gym. First, they hosted a Region 9 first-round game, then, won that game to advance to the second round with a 77 to 56 win over LCCC.
CWC was playing with only 7 players total after two players were out. They were serving the first of a two-game suspension. They were also missing leading scorer David Simental who hurt his ankle during the week at practice.
The game was tight early with 5 ties and 6lead changes in the first 15 minutes. Central pulled away and took an 8 point lead in the halftime break. LCCC went cold from the field, thanks in part to the stingy defense of Central. Connor Nelson kept Tyreese Potoma in check the whole game. Potoma went off for seven threes against Central a week ago and 25 points, but tonight, Nelson held him to just five for the majority of the game.
Brad Schmit, “ Connor played his heart out tonight and completely locked down Potoma. That help set the tone for the rest of the players and it was contagious.” Central had 15 steals against The Golden Eagles. After starting the game 5 for 8 from three-point land, LCCC went cold missing their next 11 in a row.
CWC was led in scoring by Connor Nelson’s 20, James Woods added 14 with a team-high 9 rebounds, 12 points came from Darius Guinn and 11 by Taylor Tidzump.
After the game, coach Brad Schmit, “ I told Steve Barlow (Rustler AD) when I was hired, I have two goals… to host a first-round game and to WIN a first-round game as a first-year head coach. We did that and now we will set a new bar and move into the Region 9 tournament.”
CWC raises their record to 11 and 19 on the season. They will go into the Region 9 tournament as a #3 seed, not the #4 that they ended the conference season with as #6 Eastern Wyoming upset #3 Western, thus reseeding Central to the higher spot at #3. Sheridan is #1, Casper #2 and now Eastern Wyoming will be #4.
Central will play Thursday at 5 pm in Sheridan against North Platte.
CWC Basketball this week:
Men’s Quick Look: Thursday, March 7th 5pm
Region 9 Tournament 2nd Round
Central (11-19) vs North Platte Nebraska CC (23-4) @Sheridan College
Region 9 Men’s 2nd Round Games @ Sheridan College March 7th:
#2N Casper vs #3S Trinidad State 1 pm
#1S Western Nebraska vs #4N Eastern Wyoming 3 pm
#2S North Platte Vs #3N Central 5 pm
#1N Sheridan vs #4S Northeastern JC 7 pm
The CWC men broke a three game losing skid and will get to continue their season. They have won only 3 of their final 11 games of the season, but, will play on in the Region 9 tournament after a 21 point win over LCCC Saturday. Central has won five consecutive play-in games to get to the Region 9 post-season tournament second round.
North Platte survived a battle from #7 seed McCook on Sunday in a game pushed back a day due to weather. With the game tied at 82 and under :20 seconds to play, McCook called a time out. They were out of time outs and a technical foul was issued. The Knights hit 1 of 2 free throws, rebounded a missed three from McCook on the next possession and made two more free throws to win 85 to 82.
Away games usually can be seen via a link posted to the Rustler Radio or CWC Athletics facebook page each game day. Also each sports’ specific facebook and twitter pages.
All tournament games can be heard live on Rustler Radio 88.1 FM.