DODGE CITY, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team didn't forget the sting of its 71-70 loss to Dodge City at home back on November 11 to begin the KJCCC schedule.

The T-Birds had a potential game-winning shot come up short in the first meeting. On Wednesday, they made sure the Conquistadors never got theirs in a come-from-behind, 65-61 thriller.

Cloud County guards Alvin Thompson and Brayden Day forced a turnover by Dodge City in the final seconds, spoiling any hope of a potential game-tying 3-pointer by the Conquistadors.

Day pressured the ball handler, Dodge City freshman guard Justice Dixon, who then had his pass to Tajae Anderson picked off by Thompson to seal the T-Birds' victory.

"I think everybody in the gym knew where that ball was supposed to go," said Cloud County head coach Jordan Altman. Anderson was Dodge City's leading scorer on the night with 17 points. "Brayden really pressured the point guard (Dixon), which took some heat off that pass and made him have to telegraph it. Alvin made a tremendous play on the ball, but Brayden's pressure really made that a much more difficult pass."

It was the highlight of a second half full of stops made by Cloud County (6-11 overall, 4-10 KJCCC) on defense, allowing the T-Birds to erase what was a 15-point deficit at 50-35 with 15:03 remaining in the second half.

Dodge City (6-12 overall, 4-10 KJCCC), coming off an upset win over No. 13 ranked Hutchinson, was limited to a dreadful 9-of-34 (27 percent) shooting performance from the field in the second half and were held without a field goal for 8:21 until a Kevin Howard layup at the 6:42 mark.

Cloud County pulled even shortly after as sophomore forward Shawn Lee drained back-to-back baskets with 6:06 remaining to tie the score at 52-52.

The T-Birds took the lead for good with 42 ticks remaining when redshirt sophomore Ramion Burt Jr. spun into the paint and swished a left-handed baby hook to give Cloud County a 62-61 lead. Burt Jr. finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and four assists on the evening.

Dodge City had a chance to go back on top the next possession, but Dixon missed two critical free throws — Dodge City shot 14-of-21 at the charity stripe as a team — with 25 seconds left.

Cloud County immediately took advantage as Burt Jr. poked a would-be offensive rebound away from Howard, which led to a run out for Thompson to up the lead to 64-61 with 15.6 seconds remaining.

Rebounding helped key the comeback for the T-Birds as they finished with a 50-46 edge in total rebounds. In addition to Burt Jr.'s 13 rebounds, his frontcourt mates of freshman Breyon Jackson (12 points, eight rebounds), freshman Adetomi Ayilara (eight points, four rebounds) and Lee (four points, seven rebounds) controlled the glass over the final 20 minutes.

"Our forwards really contributed. I thought the defense and rebounding by those four guys was the difference," Altman said.

The T-Birds will look to duplicate the performance when they head off to face No. 13 Hutchinson at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Cloud County defeated the previously No. 1 ranked Blue Dragons, and defending national champions, 82-79 back on Nov. 11.

It'll be another tough battle in a grueling five-game stretch for Cloud County which includes four straight road contests and a home date with Coffeyville looming on Jan. 31.

"This may be the toughest five-game stretch in the country as far as junior basketball goes," Altman said. "We have four long distance road trips against good teams, then coming home to face another top-5 team in our league. It was great to start (this stretch) on a good note and have a little confidence going into Hutchinson on Saturday."