CONCORDIA, Kansas — "Do something special." It was a team goal and a challenge made by Cloud County men's basketball first-year head coach Jordan Altman to his team prior to the 2017-18 season.

Wednesday's performance against No. 1 ranked Hutchinson, the defending NJCAA DI National Champions, certainly fit the bill as the T-Birds stunned a packed crowd inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium with an 82-79 overtime upset of the Blue Dragons.

It's the first win for the Cloud County men's basketball program over Hutchinson since a 94-85 win back on Feb. 19, 2014.

"I told the guys that, not only do we have a chance to play the No. 1 team, but that in and of itself is very rare. Most teams, unless you're a junior college team in Kansas, Texas or Florida, you're probably never going to play the No. 1 ranked team in the country," Altman said. "Just to have the opportunity was something special. My guys really bought into that and showed it (Wednesday) that they are capable of doing something that special."

Cloud County (3-2 overall, 1-1 KJCCC) had to sweat out numerous tense moments in a game that saw 11 ties and seven lead changes. It owned a slim 32-31 lead over Hutchinson (5-1 overall, 1-1 KJCCC) at the half, built its lead to as many as eight at the 16:58 mark of the second half, and were up by four at 71-67 with 22 seconds remaining in regulation.

Hutchinson fought back to tie the game on a 3-pointer with six seconds left and, following a 1-for-2 trip to the free-throw line by Cloud County, a buzzer-beating floater at the end of regulation from James Rojas.

The momentum change did little to rattle the T-Birds, though, as they took the lead for good at 77-74 on a 3-pointer from point guard, Solomon Finley.

Finley added a made free-throw with eight seconds remaining to bump the lead to 82-79. The T-Birds' defense then made one final stop as Hutchinson's Tiylar Cotton missed a contested 3-pointer with three seconds remaining to seal the 82-79 final.

"We've talked about since Day One that the fun games you always remember are not the blow outs. The fun games are the ones that are tight, that go to the wire or go to overtime," Altman said. "At the end of regulation, I just said 'This is why you play basketball. This is why you're hear. This is why you spend hours and hours in the gym so you're prepared to win a game like this.'"

Finley was one of three T-Birds in double-figures on the night with a career-high 18 points on an economical 6-of-7 shooting, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. A welcomed sight for Finley and the T-Birds after the sophomore had struggled to find his shot through Cloud County's first four games.

"I never took the green light away from Solomon Finley," Altman said. "He's always had the green light. We've worked extensively on his footwork, his balance to be a better shooter. I was just waiting for him to have a night like (Wednesday)."

Fellow sophomore Ramion Burt Jr. and redshirt freshman Alvin Thompson joined Finley in double-figures with 16 points and 15 points, respectively, while Burt Jr. recorded his third straight double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Cloud County also received key defensive contributions from freshmen Brayden Day and Adetomi Ayilara as Day had three steals, a block and three assists in 24 minutes, while Ayilara had six rebounds and three blocks in his 25 minutes.

"Between Brayden Day and Alvin Thompson, I know I have two guys that are going to play 100 percent every minutes, every second they are out on the floor," Altman said. "Brayden is a guy who missed the entire month of October, all 10 of our exhibition games, and was not ready to go for tip-off (opening night). He's figured it out in the last two and a half weeks."

Their play off the bench allowed Cloud County to stick to its game plan of alternating between man-to-man and zone defenses, which kept Hutchinson off-balance to the tune of 33 percent shooting and 24 turnovers.

"Learning how to play man-to-man a certain way really led us to the zone tonight, which was extremely effective. It got Hutchinson a little back on its heels and they (Blue Dragons) weren't really sure how to attack it," Altman said. "I'm not sure they've seen a zone like that this year, so it was new to them, and we hadn't even shown it on film so they didn't know it was coming. That was definitely the difference in the game."

Cloud County will look to build off Wednesday's win when it continues KJCCC action at 8 p.m. Saturday at home against Seward County Community College.

"I told the guys 'Don't let this be the highlight (of the season),'" Altman said. "We are guaranteed 26 more games; 25 regular season and at least one in the postseason, so we don't want this to be the highlight of our year. I also told them after the losses to Dodge City, and the opening loss to Central Community College, that now I have a standard to hold them to. When I tell them they can do better and be better, they can't tell me 'no' anymore because they've proven it."