GREAT BEND, Kan. – A strong surge to open the second half would not be enough for the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team as Barton would manage to score the final six points of the game to take a 91-85 decision in the opening round of the NJCAA Region VI Basketball Tournament in Great Bend, Kansas on Wednesday, February 26th.

In what would be the third meeting of the season between the T-Birds and Cougars, Cloud County would be unable to find the right combination to get a win over Barton to end their season at 10-21 overall despite all three games with BCC being decided by single digits. The Cougars improved to 23-8 overall with the victory and advance to Sunday's NJCAA Region VI Tournament quarterfinal round against Coffeyville.

It would be back-and-forth from the get-go as Cloud County would jump out to a 5-2 lead in the opening minute before seeing the Cougars come back to score the next five to take a 7-5 lead with 18:28 left in the first half. The T-Birds would tie things up at seven all before seeing the Cougars score four quick points to go up 11-7 as CCCC would be forced to use threes on two separate possessions to get back within one. Trailing 14-13 with 14:23 left in the first half, Cloud County would go cold from the field and go through a nearly five-minute cold spell as Barton would use a 14-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 28-13. Sophomore Iyen Enaruna would break the drought with a pair of free throws to spark an 8-2 T-Bird run and pull back within single-digits at 30-21 with 5:54 remaining.

Trading the next four buckets with Barton, Cloud County would manage to cut further into the lead with just under two minutes left before halftime as Akene Agee would knock down a pair of free throws to pull CCCC within seven at 35-28 before seeing the Cougars hit an open jumper to go back up nine. Another Agee free-throw coupled with a DJ Sims triple would appear to pull the T-Birds within five heading into halftime, but Barton would draw a foul with two seconds left on a three-point attempt and hit on one of their free throws to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room at the half.

After trading the opening 14 points of the second half, Cloud County would see Lewis start to take things over as the Conroe, Texas native would hit an open three and then find Dyelan Reed in a transition for another three as the T-Birds would tie things at 45-45 with 16:26 remaining in the game. Lewis would go on to score the next five points to cap off an 11-0 run for CCCC as Cloud County would take their first lead of the second half and go up 50-45 five minutes into the second period.

Following a Barton layup and free throw, Lewis would have yet another response by hitting a three to push the lead back out five and then connect on second-consecutive triple following a one-and-done possession from Barton. The T-Birds would maintain their two-possession lead for the next several minutes before seeing the Cougars threaten to tie things up as the deficit would be cut to just two at 63-61 with 10:49 remaining. Cloud County would have a response, however, scoring the next seven points of the contest heading into the second half media timeout to hold a 70-61 lead midway through the second half.

Seven-straight points from Barton would set the final seven minutes up for a continuation of the back-and-forth that had been seen in the first 30-plus minutes as the Cougars would get within a single-possession on three different trips down the floor. Despite the effort from Barton, Cloud County would continue to fend off the Cougars and hold their lead until a pair of free throws with 4:21 remaining would give BCCC the lead again at 75-74. CCCC would then reclaim the lead with a Lewis jumper but see Barton have the answer on the other end of the floor as the next two minutes of action would see five ties and three lead changes. Cloud County would hold an 83-81 lead off a Lewis jumper with 1:28 remaining, but see Barton draw a foul that would then lead to a technical foul on the T-Birds and hit all four free throws to go up 85-83. An aggressive play from CCCC on the ensuing offensive possession would see Reed draw a foul and connect on both free throws to tie things at 85-85, but Barton would connect on a mid-range jumper with 46 seconds left to take the lead. Cloud County would get a prime opportunity at the bucket but see a five-foot shot miss off the back iron as the Cougars would haul in the rebound and manage to hit free throws to score the final six points and hang on to avoid the upset bid by CCCC.

Connecting on nearly 50 percent of their shots, Cloud County would finish the game 31-of-64 (48.4 percent) from the field and hit on 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) of their threes but be hampered by just 13 total free-throw attempts (11-for-13, 84.6 percent). Barton would manage to hold a 43-33 advantage in rebounds and 15-10 advantage in second-chance points while getting to the line 43 times in the game, hitting on 35 attempts (81.4 percent).

The T-Birds would get a game-high 33 points from Lewis as the sophomore would hit on six-of-11 threes and add five rebounds and three steals in the loss despite playing just 27 minutes. Joining Lewis in double-digits would be Sims with 12 and Reed with 10 as the T-Birds would see 66 of their 85 points scored by the starting five.