North Platte, Neb. – Davion Evans and Antwone Gonzales each finished the night with 14 points, but McCook Community College prevailed 73-63 in a tightly contested battle inside the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
Facing a 25-point deficit in the early stages of the second half, the Knights went to their bench looking for a spark. Freshman Sam Lootens entered the game and immediately made his presence known with back-to-back-to-back three pointers to spark a 15-3 run that narrowed the deficit to 59-49 with 6:05 to play.
North Platte attempted to build on the momentum and even cut the deficit to seven inside the closing minutes, but McCook kept the Knights from mounting the momentum to complete the comeback and closed out the Region IX-South victory.
McCook dominated in the opening half, as a 13-2 run propelled the road team to an early seven-point advantage. Steadily the margin increased over the remaining 13:45 of the half, as North Platte faced a 41-20 deficit at the break.
North Platte (9-7) travels to Beatrice on Friday to take on Southeast Community College in a Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference matchup. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Truman Center Gymnasium.
