TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College men’s basketball team were handed two losses on their home court this past weekend, falling to North Platte Community College Friday, 99-66, and McCook Community College Saturday, 98-81.

NPCC 99, EWC 66
Against North Platte, EWC got off to a slow start, facing a 9-0 deficit after less than three minutes of action. By halftime, the Lancers trailed 55-29. They slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half, bringing their deficit to below 20 points several times, but North Platte distanced itself toward the end to get the big win.
“They tried to battle back and they fixed they’re problems but once we hit a couple runs, (North Platte) would call a timeout and slow us down,” coach Neal Sherbeyn said.
Four Lancers scored in double-figures on Friday. Petar Skoknic was the highest scorer, with 15 points. Four of his points came from the charity stripe. He had two rebounds and an assist as well. Ahmad Pratt was the other starter in double-digits, with 12 points. His four rebounds and two assists were both team-highs.

Will Osborn and Jordan Mirich came off the bench to pour in a combined 25 points. Nine of Osborn’s 14 points came from the free-throw line, where he shot 9-of-10.
“They did play well together as a team sometimes, just not all the time,” Sherbeyn said.
The Lancers shot 38 percent from the field, but knocked down only 8-of-29 from behind the arc. From the charity stripe, EWC nailed 18-of-23.

McCook 98, EWC 81
The Lancers faced a 50-37 deficit by halftime. In the second half, EWC was only outscored by four points as the Lancers fell by 17 points.
“We went from a tie ballgame at 32 to down by 15 in a matter of five minutes,” Sherbeyn said. “It seems like all year we have a minute span where we go ice cold and that’s deadly to us because we are down 10 to 15 at the end of it.”
Skoknic was again the leading scoring, with 24 points to his credit. He shot 10-of-12 from the free-throw line and had four rebounds and an assist. Walker Korell, with 17, and Pratt, with 12, were the second and third highest scorers among the starters. Pratt led the Lancers in boards, with seven, and he had two blocks.
Mirich came off the bench and chipped in 18 points, five rebounds an assist and two steals. Schroefel led the Lancers in assists, with seven.
EWC mustered a 27 percent shooting percentage from the floor, knocking down 14-of-42 from behind the arc and 23-of-33 from the free-throw line.
The two losses drop EWC to 4-23, with a 0-13 record in the conference. The Lancers have only three games remaining this season. They hit the road for Northeastern Junior College Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Lamar Community College Saturday at 4 p.m.
“I’m not going to let them quit. We are going to finish the season strong,” Sherbeyn said. “The idea is to win out and nothing is going to change that.”