INDEPENDENCE, Kansas —  The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team, after trailing by 23 at the half, made a valiant effort to get back into Monday's regular season finale on the road against Independence Community College.

The short-handed T-Birds, down three players to begin the evening, crawled back within seven with 2:30 remaining, but ran out of steam in an eventual 79-68 loss to the Pirates.

"I'm definitely really proud of the guys. I challenged them at halftime not to quit, to continue to fight and to continue to compete," said Cloud County head coach, Jordan Altman, whose team outscored the Pirates 45-33 over the final 20 minutes. "We played a very good second half."

Cloud County (6-23 overall, 4-22 KJCCC) was without Breyon Jackson, who is still away from the team for family reasons, and without Alvin Thompson after he was kept out for concussion-like symptoms stemming from Saturday night's game against Allen County.

Freshman guard Brayden Day was also limited Monday due to a cold. The loss of depth plagued the T-Birds in the early going as Independence (17-12 overall, 14-12 KJCCC) built a quick double-digit lead then ended the half on a 10-0 run to own a 46-23 lead at the break.

Rather than hang their heads, the T-Birds dug in to begin the second half and started to chip away at the deficit through their defense.

"We came out hard attacking the basket and we got DeAnthony McCallum, Independence's best player, in foul trouble, which allowed us to play our 2-3 zone," Altman said. "It was our defensive presence that really started the run."

The T-Birds had the deficit down to seven with roughly four minutes remaining, and then against with 2:10 remaining at 69-62, but ran out of time before they were forced to foul to try and extend the game.

"Have to credit Independence for hitting its free throws down the stretch," Altman said. "They wouldn't give us any room to close it down."

Offensively, Cloud County received big performances from a pair of sophomores as Ramion Burt Jr. scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while point guard Solomon Finley was the second T-Bird in double-figures with 15.

Cloud County is hopeful to have all three missing pieces back in Thompson, Day and Jackson for Thursday's first-round Region VI game against No. 11 ranked Hutchinson (25-5 overall, 21-5 KJCCC).

The T-Birds and Blue Dragons, who fell 82-79 in overtime to Cloud County back on Nov.15, will tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Hutchinson.

"We feel like if we play to our capability and are fortunate to hit some shots, we can play with anybody," Altman said. "Hopefully we bring the same kind of mentality that we did out of halftime (Monday) into the game on Thursday and swing away."

Notes: Official statistics for the Independence game were not available as of Monday evening.