CONCORDIA, Kan. – Overcoming a slow start that included four-of-nine shooting from the field, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would double up visiting Hesston College 46-23 at the half to go on and earn an 85-62 home victory inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, November 6th.
 
Winning their second-straight game to close out the week, the T-Birds improve to 2-1 overall on the year while the Larks lost for the first time in 2021-22 to fall to 2-1 overall.
 
"We had to bring our own juice in a sense today as we tell our guys day in and day out we have to bring our own energy or else we can't expect anyone else to do so" said head men's basketball coach Devin Kastrup in a post-game interview. "We want to have a big home crowd at our games as we know it helps us, so we'd love to see our fans fill Arley Bryant Gymnasium and I know our players would be very appreciative of it." "I thought what got us going was some selfless plays and doing the little things right which allowed us to get some easy buckets after a while and then saw some shots start to fall after a slow start." "We've seen now that day in and day out we are going to have to go with whoever is rolling that day and also take what the defense gives us." "Today we saw Hesston really pack the lane which allowed Joe Kearney to find some open space and hit shots which is something he does well, so we never know who is going to be our leading scorer each day which really allows us to take advantage of and counter whatever the opposing team doesn't take away from our game plan."
 
An opening possession three from the Larks would make way for Kearney to open the T-Birds with nine straight points as part of an 11-3 run in the opening 5:24 of the contest that would force Hesston into an early timeout. The Cloud County defense would continue to shine throughout the opening 10 minutes of action as HC would be held in check to allow CCCC to go up 11 at 14-3 on a Savian Edwards trey before seeing Hesston connect on three triples in four possessions to get back within three at 17-14.
 
Layups by Jaelen Treml and Corey Sawyer Jr. would allow the T-Birds to regain some breathing room at 21-14 with 8:16 before halftime as Cloud County would begin to crack down on the defensive side once more. Forcing Hesston to endure nearly a four-minute scoring drought, CCCC would turn a three-point game into a 13-point contest on another Kearney three-ball before pushing their lead to 17 at 36-19 on a breakaway dunk from Treml. The final four minutes of action would see the T-Birds add to their lead and take their largest lead of the half following a Nikola Milojevic triple with 46 seconds remaining in the half as the Larks would get a layup to end the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
Allowing just three free throws to HC in the opening 4:26 of the second half, Cloud County would quickly add to their lead with a 14-3 run capped off by a Malang Athian three to go 60-34 with just over 16 minutes left in the game. Hesston would never be able to close the gap to closer than 30 at 66-36 until the final two-plus minutes of the game as an 11-2 run would give CCCC their largest lead of the game at 77-38 and allow the T-Birds to start clearing the bench with substitutions. In the final six minutes of action, Cloud County would begin to shuffle their lineup as the Larks would take advantage and end the game on a 24-8 run that would bring the deficit back to where it started to begin the second half.
 
 As a team, the T-Birds would shoot 47.1 percent (32-of-68) from the floor and connect on nine-of-29 (31.0 percent) of their attempts from long range. Holding a massive 46-8 advantage in points in the paint, Cloud County would also outscore the Larks 14-11 in points off turnovers and 20-11 in second-chance points.
 
Leading all players in offense on the day would be Kearney with 15 of his game-high 18 in the first half while adding three rebounds and three steals. Athian would add 13 and Milojevic 10 as the remaining three starters for CCCC (Vidovic, Treml, and Nate Duckworth) all had eight points. Hesston would have three players of their own in double-figures on the day led by a team-best 15 points from Isaiah Jones.
 
What's Next?
The T-Birds will play two games next week at home beginning on Wednesday, November 10th with a 7 p.m. contest against the Bethany College JV team. As of Saturday afternoon, the Swedes JV team held a 1-3 overall record with two of their three losses coming to Garden City and Allen County Community College. Bethany is also scheduled to play Neosho and Hesston prior to coming to Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday night.