Second half costs MCC Men in loss to Cougars.

The McCook Community College men’s basketball team had a 15-point first-half lead Wednesday but faltered in the second half in an 87-76 loss to Western Nebraska Community College at home.

“This was a disappointing night. We just didn’t show up,” said MCC Assistant Coach Drake Henderson.

The Indians were outscored 51-31 in the second half and trailed by as many as 19 points.

“We shot 38 percent in the second half, 10 percent from 3, combine that with 26 turnovers and you’re not going to win a lot of games,” said Henderson.

Despite turning the ball over 12 times in the first half, MCC went up by 15 points with 4:26 left in the half and led WNCC 45-36 at intermission.

“Credit to them, they hit some big-time shots to open things up,” said Henderson. “We had a chance late to cut into their led, but we just didn’t make the right plays.”

MCC finished the game shooting 43.9 percent from the field, made two of 17 triples (11.8 percent) and went 24 of 29 from the free throw line.

Defensively, the Indians allowed WNCC to shoot 46.4 percent from the field, 40 percent from the 3-point line in the second half (10 of 31 for the game, 32.3 percent) and 13 of 23 from the line (56.5 percent).

“It didn’t look like us out there,” said Henderson. “Especially in the second half, and with a team like that that’s going to pressure you all game, that’s what they’re looking for, to speed you up and turn you over and they did a good job of it.”

Sophomore Luke Sinisa (Auckland, North Island New Zealand) led MCC with 19 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Djibril Diawara (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) scored 16 points including 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Sofiane Benragba (freshman, Montpellier, France) scored 12 and sophomore Nate Coley (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 11.

Western Nebraska goes to 2-4 in the region standings and 6-16 overall.

MCC falls to 3-3 in the region and 13-9 on the season.

The Indians will be on the road Saturday to Sterling, Colo. For a 4 p.m. game against Northeastern Junior College.

“We have to play better. We need to look in the mirror and figure out what we need to do to be the team we want to be and that starts on Saturday at Sterling,” said Henderson.

Up-to-date information about MCC women’s basketball including livestream links for home games, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com