Hutchinson, Kan. – After hitting on nine of 16 first-half three point attempts, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would be unable to keep up their long-range barrage in the second half as part of a 90-75 road loss to number six ranked Hutchinson Community College at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas on Wednesday, December 11th.

Cloud County is now 6-6 overall and 1-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Blue Dragons bounced back from their first defeat of the year to improve to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in the KJCCC.

Grabbing an early lead to start the game, the T-Birds would get a game-opening triple from Denzel Ndongosi as CCCC would hold a lead throughout the first four minutes of the contest. Following a Michael Ozomah triple with 16:47 remaining in the first half, Hutchinson would score two quick layups to take their first lead of the game at 9-8 as the two teams would go back and forth for the next several minutes of the game.

The Blue Dragons would use a 7-0 run over the course of 1:37 to turn a two-point lead into a nine point lead at 23-15, but Iyen Enaruna would get Cloud County heading back in the right direction with a three that would be followed by up a Sami Sanad triple to get CCCC back within a single-possession. Hutchinson would not be fazed however, pushing their lead back to an eight-point gap at 30-22 with 7:52 left in the first half before seeing another run by the T-Birds allow Cloud County to score the next 15 points of the game to go up 37-30 with just 3:36 remaining before halftime.

Free throw shooting down the stretch would allow the Blue Dragons to cut back into the CCCC lead, with Hutchinson hitting four consecutive free throws and scoring six of the next eight points to close the gap to 39-36 with just over two minutes left in the opening period. Sanad would hit his fourth three of the first half to give Cloud County a six-point cushion on the next possession, but the final 11 points of the half would be scored by HCC which included a corner three to end the half and put Hutchinson up 47-42.

A 6-1 run by the Blue Dragons would see Hutchinson take their first double-digit lead of the game at 53-43 three minutes into the second half as Cloud County would see shots that were going down in the first half start to miss. The T-Birds would then change their style of play and decide to drive to the rim instead of relying on outside shots, getting a pair of layups on back-to-back possessions to quickly get back within six at 56-50 before seeing Hutchinson use a 9-1 run to reclaim a double-digit lead.

Trying to keep within closing distance, Cloud County would be able to match the Blue Dragons on the offensive end but be unable to cut into the lead as HCC would maintain their double-digit lead over the course of the next six-plus minutes until an Enaruna offensive rebound and put back would get CCCC back within nine at 71-62. The nine-point deficit would be all the closer that Cloud County would get however as the hot shooting start would not carry over into the final seven minutes of the game which would allow Hutchinson to pull away with free throws also playing a big part in the 15-point win. a

Cloud County would finish the game going 26-for-66 (39.4 percent) from the field and 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) from three with only three-of-11 attempts (27.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half going down. Hutchinson would hold a 48-36 advantage on the rebounding edge and would also grab 15 offensive rebounds which would lead to a 15-4 advantage in second-chance points to spoil a 16-13 advantage in points off turnovers by CCCC.

Three starters and four players in total would end up in double-figures for Cloud County, led by a team-high 18-points from Sims. Dyelan Reed would also have a big night for the T-Birds, scoring 16 points and adding four rebounds while playing a season-high 35 minutes in the contest while Enaruna (11 points) and Sanad (12 points) also hit double-figures.

What's Next?

Cloud County will play their next two games outside of the KJCCC, beginning on Saturday, December 14th with a return trip to North Platte Community College for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Earlier this season, Cloud County knocked off the Knights 91-79 at home thanks in part to four players in double-figures and 36 bench points in the game.