CONCORDIA, Kan. – Despite a career-high 24 points from sophomore Dyelan Reed, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would come up just shy of pulling the upset of number-16 ranked Dodge City Community College in a 90-88 home loss inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, February 3rd.

Giving DC3 everything they could handle and then some, the T-Birds fall to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Conquistadors remain unbeaten at 4-0 and 3-0 in the KJCCC.

Facing full-court pressure from the get-go and high intensity from an amped Dodge City squad, Cloud County would come out swinging by scoring five of the first six points before seeing the Conquistadors take their first lead of the night by using an 8-0 run to go up 9-5. CCCC would be fazed, however, responding with a bucket from Reed and a pair of Detavious Frierson free throws as the T-Birds would try to make the most of the pressure defense by drawing fouls to get into the bonus early on in the first half in hopes of foul trouble catching up to DC3 later on.

Trailing 15-11 with just under 11 minutes left in the first half, Cloud County would answer with a pair of Ibrahim Drame free throws to set off a 7-0 run by the T-Birds to reclaim the lead at 18-15 as things would reach the first half media timeout with 9:09 left in the opening period. Another Drame free throw would give CCCC their largest lead of the contest at 19-15 before seeing Dodge City score four quick points to tie things up once more at 19-all. Eduardo Peralta-Garcia would have the answer for Cloud County as the sophomore would connect on a triple to put CCCC back on top as things would go back and forth for the next several minutes.

Following a Malang Athian layup to put Cloud County up 24-23, Dodge City would respond by scoring the next 10 points to go up 33-24 before the T-Birds would find a way to score eight of the next 11 and pull within four at 36-32 before allowing the Conquistadors to get three points on the final two possessions to face a 39-32 deficit at the half.

In the second half, CCCC would see the Conquistadors extend their lead to double-digits just over two minutes into the period as Dodge City would start to see their offense come alive. The output would be matched by Cloud County however as Reed hit a triple and David Acosta would get a fast-break layup to bring the T-Birds back within five at 47-42 to keep within striking distance. As the half kept progressing, Dodge City would extend their lead out to as many as 14, but a scrappy CCCC squad would continue to find a way to score points and slowly cut into the lead to get back within six at 58-52 with 12:57 left in the game.

A Rayquan Valentin three and Frierson layup would get the T-Birds back within four at 62-58 at the midway point of the second period, but Dodge City once again would have a response to keep Cloud County just out of reach as six of the next eight points went the way of DC3 to make it an eight-point game. Dodge City would then make one final push to extend their lead back out to double-digits as the T-Birds would face a 76-65 hole with just under five minutes remaining as the Conquistadors would threaten to put the game out of reach down the stretch. Cloud County would show no quit, however, getting a Reed three with 3:22 remaining to pull back within eight at 80-72 before scoring three of the next five points to close the gap to 82-75 with just over two minutes to play.

Both teams would then go blow-for-blow as the T-Birds would begin trading Dodge City free throws with shots from behind the arc as the deficit kept getting smaller and smaller. Trailing 89-82 with 25 seconds left, Zavien Smith would find a way to drain a three from the near side of the court to get Cloud County within four at 89-85 before catching yet another break as the Conquistadors would split a pair of free throws. The rally would be just a bit too late however as the T-Birds would come up empty on their next possession before getting the ball back down five with just one second left on the clock as Reed would drain a game-ending three to put the final score at a two-point difference.

26 turnovers would be a big issue for the T-Birds as Dodge City would get 28 points off turnovers to CCCC's nine while also outscoring Cloud County 58-32 in the paint. The T-Birds would hold a 54-41 advantage on the glass and hit on 12-of-33 (36.4 percent) of their shots from beyond the arc while also connecting on 20-of-30 (66.7 percent) of their free throws.

Reed's career-high would come on a night in which the Clyde, Kansas native would go nine-of-14 from the field including a six-of-nine mark from deep while also grabbing seven rebounds and adding three steals. Frierson would also net a new career-high, doubling his old high of eight by scoring 16 points and hauling in nine rebounds while Smith would record a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. Dodge City would get a game-best and career-high 33 points from Walynn Napper as the sophomore would play all 40 minutes of tonight's contest.

What's Next?

Cloud County hits the road for the second-straight weekend as the T-Birds will be in Hutchinson to take on the Blue Dragons in a 7:30 p.m. game on Saturday, February 6th. The Blue Dragons fell 66-65 on the road at Butler on Wednesday to take their second loss of the season. Hutchinson will enter Saturday's game with a 2-2 overall record and 1-2 mark in the KJCCC.