Plainsmen Fall To Cougars

In their first home game after a series of road trips, the Plainsmen basketball team come back home to the hardwood to face the Cougars from Western Nebraska.  The men won their first game of Region IX conference and were looking to work their way up the ladder by adding another one in the win column.  Northeastern knew the Cougars would be a tough team to play after watching game film and looking at stats, but they were ready for the challenge.

In the first five minutes of the game, the Cougars were able to hop out to a quick 18-9 lead with some three pointers and free throws.  Not wanting to allow the Cougars to establish a lead, they tried to score some quick baskets.  The Plainsmen had their opportunities to score, but the balls would not fall in their favor and the Cougars would follow up with a bucket of their own.  As time would progress, NJC would find themselves in a hole that they needed to try to work themselves out of.  At one point, the Plainsmen would be behind 17 points with less than five minutes to play.  At half, the Cougars would hold a lead over the Plainsmen 51-38.

In the second half, NJC knew that they needed to just chip away at their lead and not try to get all the points in a run.  Going on a run has its advantages and disadvantages.  There are times when going on a run does its purpose by bringing a team back within contention, but they often come with a drought that puts a team back right where they started.  The best bet for the Plainsmen would be to play solid defensively while continuously running plays and getting good shots.  Although that seemed to be what the plan was, it failed when the Cougars would hit some tough shots that kept them energized.  Along with that, the Plainsmen had another tough time getting the ball to fall even when they had good looks at the basket.  With the game clock ticking away and the score not being cut down any, the Plainsmen still kept trying to shoot their way back in it without success.  The game would end with the Plainsmen coming up short 107-87.

That loss will put the Plainsmen 1-1 in Region IX conference play and will travel to play Laramie County CC on December 7.