NORTH PLATTE, Neb. – Using a 12-9 advantage in second chance points and 28-18 advantage in bench points, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would overcome a 52-36 deficit on the glass to hang on for a 74-70 win at North Platte Community College on Saturday, December 14th.

The win allows Cloud County to improve to 7-6 overall and sweep the season series from the Knights who are now 3-7 overall.

It would be a low scoring opening five minutes of the game as the two teams would combine for just 10 points to allow the T-Birds to take a 7-3 lead. A jumper from Michael Ozomah with 12:20 left in the opening 20 minutes of play would allow CCCC to double up the Knights 14-17 and force a 30-second timeout from coach Kevin O'Connor as Cloud County would utilize their defense to overcome a slower than usual offensive start. The lead would grow to as many as 12 at 19-7 in favor of the T-Birds, but North Platte would refuse to go away as a Cloud County turnover would lead to a transition dunk for the Knights to pull back within three at 26-23.

A Dyelan Reed put back off a miss would allow Cloud County to reclaim a two-possession lead at 28-23 with just under six minutes remaining as the T-Birds would be able to hold their lead at two possessions down until the final minute of the opening period. Seven of the final 10 points of the half would be scored by North Platte however, allowing the Knights to get back within a pair and put things at 35-33 going to the locker room at halftime.

In the second half, North Platte would score six of the first eight points to take their first lead of the game at 39-37 before a 5-0 run would allow the T-Birds to take the lead back over on a DJ Sims triple to put CCCC up 42-39 with 17:09 left in the game. After seeing the Knights tie things back up at 42-42, Cloud County would get a three from sophomore Iyen Enaruna to go back up three as Reed would find his range on the next T-Bird possession to allow CCCC to go up six at 48-42. Second-chance points would allow North Platte to keep things close however as offensive rebounds would lead to a pair of baskets for the Knights on each of the next two possessions and keep NPCC within four at 50-46.

The final tie of the game would come with 12:57 left as the score would sit at 50-50 following a pair of North Platte free throws, but it would Cloud County who would have the response by going on an 8-2 run to go back up 58-52 just 2:19 later. CCCC would manage to maintain their lead over the next four minutes of play, holding a 71-64 lead heading into the final 2:34 of the game as the North Platte would be unable to close the gap. Down the stretch, NPCC would manage to get within four following a layup and free throw with 1:32 remaining to put the score at 71-67, but Cloud County would match NPCCC in the final possessions to keep the final margin of victory at four.

There would be just two lead changes in the game to go along with four ties as Cloud County would use a 46.6 percent (27-of-58) performance from the field and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) free throw shooting day to outscore the North Platte by two points in each half. NPCC would only connect on 25-of-78 (32.1 percent) of their shots and would only hit on 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) of their opportunities at the charity stripe despite numerous opportunities thanks in part to 26 offensive rebounds.

Scoring a game-best 15 points would be Enaruna who would also pull down a team-high 10 rebounds and add one assist while Sami Sanad added 12 points. Sims, Reed, Chad Vincent-Simon, and Denzel Ndongosi would each score 10 as the T-Birds would finish with six players in double-figures in the game.

What's Next?

Cloud County will play one final game before heading out for the holidays, traveling to Council Bluffs, Iowa to take on the Reivers at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17th. IWCC is 9-7 overall after splitting a pair of two-point games against Highland Community College and Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. The game will be the first of two between Cloud County and Iowa Western this year, with the second game coming in Concordia on February 21st.