LIBERAL, Kan. – A tale of two halves on Wednesday night would see the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team shoot 56 percent from the field and score 41 points in the first half before being held to just four field goals and 15 points in the second half to fall by a score of 62-56 at Seward County Community College in the Greenhouse in Liberal, Kansas on December 1st.
Cloud County is now 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while still searching for their first win away from home as the T-Birds are now 0-3 on the year in road games. Seward County improves to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the KJCCC after playing their first game in 10 days following a layoff due to having three games postponed due to health and safety protocols.
A low-scoring battle would be evident from the start as neither team would be able to get into much of an offensive rhythm early with both squads managing to score six points apiece in the opening five minutes of action. After a Seward County triple would give the Saints the lead at 9-6, CCCC would respond with six straight points including a pair of
Savian Edwards layups as part of an 11-0 run to go up 17-9 with 12:40 left in the first half. SCCC would end their scoring drought with a bucket on their next possession before giving up a pair of Edwards free throws to keep things at an eight-point difference as the T-Birds would manage to hold their lead at two possessions until a pair of
Justin Graham free throws with just over eight minutes left in the period would give Cloud County their first double-digit lead of the game.
Things would remain a double-digit lead for much of the remainder of the first half as every time the Saints would get back within eight, the T-Birds would have an answer on the offensive end to keep things where they were. After seeing Seward County score five points in a seven-point stretch with 2:32 left in the half, CCCC would end the half by getting a
Radovan Vidovic layup before forcing a turnover and getting a deep three from Edwards as time expired on the half to take their largest lead of the half at 41-27 and cap off one of their best 20-minute stretches of the year.
A bucket from
Nate Duckworth on the opening possession of the second half would allow the T-Birds to take their largest lead of the game just a few seconds into the second half before seeing Seward County manage to score five of the next six points to get back within 12 at 44-32. A bucket from
Joe Kearney with 14:18 left in the game would put Cloud County back up by 14 at 46-32, but CCCC would then go ice cold from the field to allow SCCC to go on an 18-2 run with the two points from Cloud County coming at the free-throw line. With the T-Birds trailing for the first time since early in the first half,
Corey Sawyer Jr. would break the 10-plus minute field goal drought for CCCC with a game-tying layup with 3:52 remaining.
Seward County would manage to get a driving layup to reclaim the lead a minute later before seeing the T-Birds split a pair of free throws after being fouled as things would come down to who could come up with clutch points in the final minutes. Another SCCC field goal would be traded by another split free throw opportunity by the T-Birds as things would become a two-possession lead for Seward County on their next possession by going up 56-52. Needing a bucket as only 1:34 remained in the contest, Cloud County would again go one-for-two at the charity stripe which allowed the Saints to remain up three before icing the game away by scoring the six points which included four points coming at the charity stripe. With the outcome determined and the final seconds ticking down, Edwards would throw up a half-court shot at the buzzer and connect to put the final margin at six as Cloud County would be held to 56 points for the second straight game.
Going 18-for-50 (36.0 percent) from the field, Cloud County would also shoot four-for-17 (23.5 percent) from beyond the arc while hitting on 16-of-25 (64.0 percent) of their free-throw attempts in the game. 14 of the 18 field goals would come in the first half along with 16 free throw attempts as the T-Birds would see Seward County make one less field goal (17-for-47, 36.2 percent) but hit six three-point attempts and make 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) of their attempts from the charity stripe. Cloud County would manage to outrebound the Saints 36-31 in the game and outscore SCCC 26-12 in points in the paint but see Seward County outscore the T-Birds 22-7 in points off turnovers.
What's Next?
CCCC returns home to Arley Bryant Gymnasium to play host to a 6-4 overall Pratt team for a 4 p.m. matchup on Saturday, December 4th. The Beavers are just 1-3 overall in the KJCCC but picked up an 87-82 home win over Northern Oklahoma College-Enid on Wednesday night to split the season series with the Jets in their non-conference finale.
