COLBY, Kan. – A strong second half from host Colby Community College would be too much for the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team to overcome in an 87-77 road loss in Colby, Kansas on Saturday, January 30th.

The defeat drops Cloud County to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the reigning KJCCC West Division Champions open their season with a win to improve to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the KJCCC.

It would be a back and forth start to the contest as the T-Birds would score five quick points after allowing the opening basket of the game to Colby before seeing the Trojans reclaim the lead at 7-5 with 16:24 remaining in the first half. Trailing 9-6 just over a minute later, Cloud County would put together back-to-back buckets from Ibrahim Drame to pull within one before a Detavious Frierson jumper would give the T-Birds the lead once again at 12-11 and force a Colby timeout.

Following a one-and-done possession from the Trojans, Eduardo Peralta-Garcia would give the T-Birds their largest lead of the game with a made triple as Cloud County would lead 19-15 heading into the first half media timeout with 9:51 left in the opening period. Cloud County would manage to hold their lead over the next two-plus minutes of action before seeing Colby get back-to-back baskets to tie things at 24-all as the T-Birds would be unable to find a way to get separation from the Trojans.

A 12-3 Colby run would allow the Trojans to take their largest lead of the first half at 32-27 with 1:48 left in the first half, but a strong close to the opening period by the T-Birds would see the final six points get score by Cloud County to hold a 33-32 halftime lead.

Two ties and one lead change would occur in the opening three minutes of the second half as neither team would be able to do much offensively out of the break as Colby would hold a 37-36 lead with 16:37 remaining in the game. The lead would grow to seven for Colby as a 10-1 Trojan run would put the T-Birds in a 45-38 deficit with just over 15 minutes left but Cloud County would respond with a pair of buckets to get back within a single possession at 45-42. Cloud County would continue to keep things close for the next several minutes as the lead would bounce around between three and six points before an 8-3 T-Bird run would cut the deficit to a single point at 53-52 at the midway point of the second half.

Colby would then find their range from beyond the arc as the Trojans would connect on treys on three-straight possessions to turn their one-point advantage into a seven-point lead and eventually taking their first double-digit lead of the game with 7:49 left in the contest. Down 68-57, Cloud County would score six of the next nine points to get back within eight but would be unable to get a much needed defensive stop to cut into the lead any more. A Savian Edward triple with just over three minutes remaining would get the T-Birds back within five at 75-70, but it would be all the closer that Cloud County would get as the Trojans would seemingly have a response on every offensive possession to pull away and secure the 10-point victory.  

After holding Colby to just a 30.3 percent field goal percentage (10-of-33) in the first half, Cloud County would see the Trojans connect on 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) of their shots in the second half which included a four-of-seven (57.1 percent) performance from beyond the arc. Colby would also take advantage of a 44-24 advantage in free throw attempts while holding a commanding 53-33 rebounding margin of the T-Birds who would outscore Colby 24-1 in bench points.

The leading scorer for Cloud County would be Zavien Smith with 18 points in his first start of the season while also adding four assists while Dyelan Reed and David Acosta each finished with 10 points. No other T-Bird would reach double-figures as the remaining five players who scored for CCCC would each finish with at least seven points.  All five Colby starters would reach double-figures as the Trojans were led by a game-best 23 points from Anthony Marshall.

What's Next?

Cloud County will look to take advantage of being at home again as the T-Birds will host an undefeated Dodge City on Wednesday, February 3rd at 8 p.m. The Conquistadors, who received votes in the last NJCAA Top-25 Poll and are expected to be ranked in next week's poll, were able to pull out an 86-83 home win over Butler on Saturday afternoon to improve to 3-0 and 2-0 in the KJCCC.