GREAT BEND, Kan. – Holding host Barton to their second-lowest scoring output of the season, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would snap a 12-game losing streak to the Cougars by picking up a 69-66 win in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action inside the Barton Gymnasium on Wednesday, December 8th.
 
The win marks just the sixth time in program history that the T-Birds have won in Great Bend as CCCC improves to 7-5 overall and 3-3 in the KJCCC. Barton falls to 8-4 overall and 2-4 in conference after receiving votes in this week's NJCAA Top-25 Poll following a pair of wins last week. Cloud County's five previous wins in Great Bend came in 1975, 1981, 2011, 2012, and 2015 with the 2015 victory coming in the NJCAA Region VI Tournament.
 
Jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the opening five minutes of play, the T-Birds would see two early treys be a sign of things to come offensively in the opening stages of the first half. After seeing Barton get back within three on two different occasions over the next three possessions of play, back-to-back buckets from Corey Sawyer Jr. would allow CCCC to take their largest lead of the first half at 21-14 with 11:52 remaining in the first period. BCCC would respond with a 7-1 run to get back within a point at 22-21 just three minutes later, but a three-point response from Malang Athian would allow the T-Birds to go back up two possessions at 25-21 with 6:04 left before halftime.
 
Using a three-point play to spark a 10-run, Barton would reclaim the lead for the first time since the opening minute of the game and go up 31-25 before allowing CCCC to snap a four-minute scoring drought with a Zion Obanla layup. The BCCC run wouldn't be over, however, as a Keith Robinson three would give Barton their largest lead of the game at 34-27, but Cloud County would have a response as Joe Kearney would hit a three of his own to get CCCC back within four. Kearney would then end the half with a deep three in the final 30 seconds of the first period to make it a one-point game as the eight of the final 11 points of the half would be scored by Cloud County to make things a 34-33 Barton lead heading into intermission.
 
Held scoreless for nearly the opening two minutes of the second half, the T-Birds would manage to tie things up at 35-35 on a DeMarco Clayton layup and then reclaim the lead as Nate Duckworth would get a steal and layup to put CCCC up 37-35. Barton would tie things up on the next possession with a layup of their own but see Cloud County go on to score the next five points to go up 42-37 five minutes into the second half. Things would remain tight for the next several minutes as the Cougars would battle back to tie things at 45-45 and eventually take the lead by splitting a pair of free throws with 9:19 left in the game.
 
Duckworth would put CCCC back on top with a three at the eight-minute mark as the T-Birds would match their first-half lead of seven on a Sawyer Jr. triple and eventually take their largest lead of the game at 59-50 with 4:34 remaining. Back-to-back threes by Barton would sandwich a Duckworth jumper that would cut the Cloud County lead to five at 61-56, but the T-Birds would continue to battle and get big buckets down the stretch. Despite Barton finding multiple different ways to put up points on the scoreboard in the final minutes, the Cougars would be unable to close any closer than five until the final seconds of the game at a pair of triples in the final seven seconds would turn a potential seven-point win into a three-point win for CCCC.
 
13 field goals in both the first and second half would power the T-Birds to a 44.8 percent (26-of-58) shooting performance in addition to going nine-for-24 (37.5 percent) from three and eight-of-16 (50.0 percent) from the free-throw line in the game. Barton would outrebound Cloud County 38-34 but see CCCC take advantage of 16 turnovers which led to 23 points. The T-Birds would also hold an 8-2 advantage in fast-break points and get 10 second-chance points compared to eight for the Cougars.
 
Putting together new career-bests in both points (19) and assists (eight) would be Duckworth as the Bloomington, Illinois native would also add three steals. Kearney would score 18 points and play a game-high 39 minutes while finishing one rebound shy of a double-double (nine) while Sawyer Jr. would score 12 points off the bench on five-of-six shooting. Cougar Downing would lead Barton with a team-high 18 points and provide four rebounds, four assists, and four steals for the Cougars.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County is on the road once more this week, heading to Butler Community College for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Power Plant in El Dorado on Saturday, December 11th. Number-19 ranked Butler fell to number-10 ranked Dodge City Community College by a score of 74-63 after leading by eight points at the half to move to 9-3 overall and 4-3 in the KJCCC.