TORRINGTON – On Saturday March 27, the Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) Men’s basketball team clawed its way to a victory against Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC).
Despite losing leading scorer Terrance Jones to an ejection in the opening minutes of the game, the Lancers were still able to walk away with a 59-54 win over the Mustangs.
Things got off to a slow start for EWC, as they didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 16-minute mark of the first half.
Both teams struggled early on the offensive side of the ball. At the 12:43 mark of the first half, the Mustangs held a five to four lead over the Lancers. EWC trailed by as many as seven points in the first half, but they were able to take a 23-21 lead into halftime.
The second half saw a bit more action on the offensive end of the court. EWC was able to outscore WWCC 36-33 in the second half.
EWC and WWCC traded blows early in the second half. The Mustangs were able to keep the Lancers from extending their lead to no more than five points during the first 10 minutes of the half. EWC never allowed WWCC to reclaim the lead, but the Mustangs did tie things up at 40 and 43 all with eight and a half minutes remaining in the half.
Sophomore Carter Berish hit a three-pointer to give the Lancers a 46-43 lead, which they never looked back from.
EWC’s largest lead of the game was 55-46 with five minutes remaining. The Lancers went three minutes without scoring a point allowing the Mustangs to cut the EWC lead to 55-54 with two minutes remaining.
The Lancers shut down the Mustang offense the final two minutes of the game and hit some key free-throws to secure the 59-54 victory.
EWC was led by freshman guard Sofyane Nocara who finished the game with 18 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 8-of-14 from the free-throw line. Fellow freshman guard Chris Tsamas was the only other Lancer to reach double figures with 10 points.
With the win, EWC moves to 14-7 overall on the season and are on a two-game winning streak after dropping their previous two games.
