The Central Wyoming College men's basketball team traveled to Western Wyoming College for a tough road contest Saturday afternoon, playing the Mustangs in front of a near-capacity crowd.  After beating the Northwest Trappers on the road the Wednesday prior in a similarly tough environment, the game would set up an opportunity to secure the 2^nd seed in the North Division of Region IX. 

The first half was a battle, as the Rustlers would go into halftime up 32-28.  Multiple lead changes would occur in the second half, as the Mustangs would lead by four with less than five minutes remaining.  With just over six seconds remaining, the Rustlers had possession of the ball coming out of a timeout.  They were positioned on the baseline trailing 61-63.  After a late flash to the ball, Alihan Demir hurled up and connected on a 3-point shot with only a few seconds remaining to silence a ruckus crowd.  The Mustangs would take and miss a shot just inside half court on the ensuing possession, as the Rustlers would take home the victory and earn a road sweep on the week.

"Tonight was a gutty performance by our team," said head coach Jack Nelson.  "Western Wyoming is an extremely mentally tough team and they really defend.  There was a time there when they made their run that I was worried, but we chipped away and kept ourselves in position to win at the end. The game winner by Ali is obviously the icing on the cake, but all the little things leading up to that is what put us in position to win."

Devon Colley would finish the game with 14 points, 10 of which were scored in the second half.  Alihan Demir would finish with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Irshaad Hunte would conclude the game with 10 points and eight rebounds.  Ronnie Barfield and Marcus Nolan both had great nights off the bench with eight points. 

The victory finished off the team's regular season at 20-8, the best regular season record since the 2012-2013 campaign.  The team will host Miles Community College in Rustler Gymnasium on Saturday, March 4^th in Sub-Region play.  The team will need to secure a victory in order to advance to the Region IX tournament which will be played at Gillette.  The tip-off time for Saturday's game vs Miles is to be determined.  We will post the start time in our game preview in the comings days.