CHANUTE, Kan. - Seeing host Neosho County Community College get hot from beyond the arc in the closing minutes of the first half, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would be unable to overcome a 20-point halftime deficit as part of an 84-70 road loss inside Panther Gymnasium in Chanute, Kansas on Saturday, March 6th.
The loss puts Cloud County at 4-9 overall and 2-9 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference as Neosho improves to 5-5 overall and 3-5 in the KJCCC while avoiding a three-game losing streak.
A tight first eight-plus minutes of play would see both teams manage to hit on open shots as Neosho would take the lead on three separate occasions just to see the T-Birds tie things up throughout the first half. Just before the first-half media timeout, the Panthers would manage to go on 12-3 run to open up their first double-digit lead of the contest at 26-14 as Cloud County would see just how well NCCC was shooting in the opening period. Out of the media timeout, CCCC would see give up a quick bucket before going on a 10-2 run to get back within six at 30-24 with just under six minutes remaining before halftime. From that point on, Neosho would end the half on an 18-4 run as Magic Reliford would take over by hitting five threes to go along with a two-point bucket and free throw to put the Panthers up by a score of 48-28 at the break.
Five quick points by the T-Birds to begin the second half would give CCCC some brief momentum in the opening moments of the second, but it would be quickly turned back as Reliford would continue his lights out shooting by scoring the next five points to put NCCC back up 20 with 17:27 remaining in the game. As Cloud County would try to cut into the Neosho lead, the Panthers would have a response for each T-Bird bucket as the deficit would grow to as many as 23 at 63-40 with 12:03 left. Despite going to the line a total of 18 times over the course of the final 20 minutes of action, CCCC never would be able to get any closer than 14 in the final seconds as Neosho would take their second-straight victory over Cloud County in as many years.
For the game, the T-Birds would shoot 36.2 percent (25-of-69) from the floor as Neosho would finish the game at 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) which included a 20-for-33 (60.6 percent) mark in the first half. Points off turnovers would be an issue for Cloud County as CCCC would give up 26 points on 15 turnovers despite outscoring the Panthers 21-4 in bench points.
Three players for Cloud County would reach double-figures on the afternoon as
Ibrahim Drame would lead CCCC with 13 points and 10 rebounds while playing a game-high 35 minutes in the contest.
Detavius Frierson and
Dyelan Reed would both join Drame by finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while no other player for the T-Birds would net more than nine. Reliford would lead all players in the game by scoring 35 points on 12-of-14 shooting including a seven-of-eight performance from beyond the arc while adding two assists and two steals.
What's Next?
With two home games next week, Cloud County will look to right the ship this coming Wednesday on March 10th when the Allen County Community College Red Devils come to Concordia for an 8 p.m. tip-off. ACCC has lost nine straight after starting the year off with a 3-2 record with their last victory coming all the way back on February 3rd on the road at Northwest Kansas Tech.
