It was another frustrating night for the Cloud County men's basketball team. The T-Birds played one of their best halfs of the year in the first half and carried a 35-33 lead into the break but shot a dismal 28% in the second half allowing Colby to take control and win 70-57. 

Cloud showed great energy in front of a big crowd on hand for Academic Acheivment night in Arley Bryant Gymnasium. The T-Birds only trailed for 12 seconds of the first half. After Cloud jumped out to an early lead Colby took their first lead at 20-19 with 7:00 minutes to play in the half. Aamahne Santos quickly responded with a three to put Cloud back in control. They would remain on top for the remainder of the half and led by as much as eight at one point. Colby closed on a 13-7 run into the halftime break but still trailed 35-33. 

Colby continued their run out of the break quickly scoring the first five points of the second half prompting Cloud County Head Coach Chad Eshbaugh to call a timeout. Devonte Dixon and Aamahne Santos would get buckets to keep Cloud within striking distance but Colby would eventually get up by as much as 15 points in the second half. Twice Cloud cut the Trojan lead to seven points but was unable to get the big stops they needed to make a run. 

Three T-Birds scored in double figures. Demonte Ojinnaka had his best scoring performance since he was named Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week on January 2nd. Ojinnaka led Cloud with 16 points. Santos and Dixon continued their strong guard play. Santos had 15 points and Dixon had 14. 

Cloud shot 34% in the game and connected on just 6 of 20 from deep. They continue to shoot well at the free throw line as they made 17 of 23 for 73.9% from the charity stripe. 

The T-Birds were overmatched inside. The Trojans entered the game as the leading rebounding team in the league and feature division 1 signee Hassan Attia who stands at 6 foot 10. Cloud held Attia and the Trojans front court in check in the first half but were outrebounded 41-28 on the night. Attia scored 11 points and had 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes.

Cloud County will host Seward County on Saturday. Seward is 17-6 overall and 7-5 in league play and has the league's highest scoring offense.