CONCORDIA, Kan. – Outdoing last season's two overtime thriller, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would take defending National Champion Coffeyville Community College to a third overtime before being dealt a 93-89 home setback inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 5th.
 
Cloud County has now dropped three straight games to fall to 7-8 overall and 3-6 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Coffeyville gets back in the win column for the first time since November 20th, 2021 to improve to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in the KJCCC. All three of Coffeyville's conference wins this season have come in extra time as the Red Ravens have played a total of six overtimes in their conference victories.
 
A low-scoring grind-it-out opening half would see neither team get off to a great start as points would be hard to come by in the opening 10 minutes of action. After trailing 7-2, Cloud County would manage to respond with a Justin Graham triple and layup on back-to-back possessions to tie things at 7-7 before seeing Coffeyville reclaim the lead again with a three of their own. CCCC's Joe Kearney would have a response following a T-Bird timeout as an offensive rebound would lead to a second-chance trey that would be buried to tie things up once more before seeing Malang Athian give Cloud County their first lead since a 2-0 start to the contest at 14-13. Both Coffeyville and Cloud County would then trade buckets before an Athian layup would give CCCC their largest lead of the first half at 18-15 with 8:27 left in the first half.
 
An 8-2 Coffeyville run would allow the Red Ravens to re-take the lead at 23-20 and force another Cloud County timeout as the T-Birds would need to regroup and try to put something together to close out the first half. Four of the next six points of the game would be scored by CCCC's Zion Obanla to pull the T-Birds within one at 23-22 and again at 25-24, but Coffeyville would have a response by scoring five of the final seven points of the opening period to claim a 30-26 lead heading into halftime.
 
The battle would continue early on in the second half as the T-Birds and Red Ravens would trade blows with Graham opening the half with a three before seeing Coffeyville score five of the next seven points to go back up four at 35-31. Graham and sophomore Nate Duckworth would bring Cloud County back even with Coffeyville at the 16:39 mark of the second half as part of a 12-0 run that would be capped off by a steal and dunk from DeMarco Clayton to put CCCC up 43-35 with just under 14 minutes remaining.
 
A rattled Coffeyville team would quickly get back into the game with a Jordan Williams three to stop the momentum that Cloud County had been building as the next seven points and 10 of the next 12 would be scored by the Red Ravens to tie things up at 45-45 midway through the half. Foul trouble would start to become an issue on both sides as each team would reach the bonus but be unable to make the most of their opportunities at the free-throw line. After seeing Coffeyville take a five-point lead at 52-47 with 7:03 left in regulation, the T-Birds would spend the next four minutes battling their way back to reclaim the lead on a Savian Edwards jump shot with 3:57 left in the second half.
 
The Red Ravens would have another big response as Dayshawn Wiley would connect on a trey to put CCC back up 60-58 before giving up four straight points at the charity strip to Cloud County to see the T-Birds grab a 62-60 lead. The final two minutes of regulation would see neither team lead by more than two points as free throws would begin to become pivotal as the final six points of the half would be scored at the charity stripe. Tied 67-67 with 1:03 remaining, Cloud County would be called for an offensive foul on a potential go-ahead drive to the hoop but hold Coffeyville scoreless on their next offensive possession. The T-Birds and Red Ravens would both go empty in their next opportunities to potentially win the game in regulation before seeing a Duckworth half-court shot at the buzzer hit back iron and send things to overtime.
 
In the first overtime period, things again would remain tightly contested as the largest lead for either team would be two points in the five-minute period. Duckworth would put the T-Birds up momentarily on a drive to the hoop before seeing Coffeyville respond with a bucket in the paint but get a pair of Graham free throws to go up 71-69. Coffeyville would hit a three to take their one and only lead of the first overtime period but wind up getting called for a technical foul for flopping with 1:08 left. Graham would go and sink the one free throw attempt to tie things at 74-74 as defense for both teams would once again step up and keep things tied as time expired to send things to a second overtime.
 
Rolling the dice in the second extra session, Coffeyville would keep their two leading scorers on the bench to begin the overtime period as both Love Bettis and Blaise Keita would be playing with four fouls once they re-entered the game. Cloud County would manage to break open the scoring again by getting a Corey Sawyer Jr. three before giving up a response on the other end as the Red Ravens would trail by one after a minute of action in the second overtime. A Sawyer Jr. second-chance layup on the ensuing T-Bird offensive possession would once again make things a three-point game as Coffeyville would bring in their two leading scorers with just over three minutes left in the overtime session.
 
After seeing Coffeyville split a pair of free throws following a CCCC foul, the T-Birds would get a massive three-point play from Graham to go up five at 82-77 with 1:51 remaining and momentum beginning to build. A composed Coffeyville team would not go away quietly, however, drawing a foul and splitting a pair of free throws before forcing a turnover on the inbounds and drawing another foul to be sent to the free-throw line. Things would suddenly become a one-point game as the second free throw would be missed but an offensive rebound would lead to a layup to make it 82-81 with 41 seconds left. Duckworth would then get a drive to the hoop but miss a layup and give Coffeyville the ball back with 22 seconds left, but once again hold strong on the defensive end and force the Red Ravens to foul with six seconds remaining. Malang Athian would connect on one of two free throws to make it a two-point contest which allowed Coffeyville to draw up a final play that would lead to a wide-open layup with 1.2 seconds left and tie things once more. Cloud County would not get a shot off before the buzzer as things would be sent to a third overtime at 83-83.
 
Entering the third overtime with three of their five starters having played over 40 minutes of action, Cloud County would see Coffeyville score the first two points of the overtime period by splitting two different sets of free throws while being held scoreless in the first 2:17 of the extra period. Graham would draw a foul with 2:43 remaining on an offensive foul and manage to hit one of two free throws to bring the T-Birds back within a point before seeing Coffeyville hit a massive three to go up two possessions. Another big drive to the hoop from Duckworth would lead to a three-point play for the sophomore to bring CCCC back to within a point at 88-87, before seeing the Red Ravens miss a pair of free throws following a foul. Graham would draw yet another foul and manage to sink both free throws to put Cloud County up one final time at 89-88 with 1:40 remaining. Coffeyville would have the answer down the stretch, however, connecting on another big trey to go up 91-89 before forcing a T-Bird turnover and managing to make it a 92-89 contest with 27 seconds left. Yet another Cloud County turnover would prove to be too much in the final moments as the T-Birds would be given one final opportunity with five seconds remaining and see a potential Graham game-tying three hit off the rim and into the hands of a Coffeyville player who would be fouled and hit one of two free throws to seal the game.
 
The largest lead by either team in the game would be eight points as neither team would be able to pull away from the other during the 55 total minutes played that would feature 13 ties and 17 lead changes throughout the contest. Both teams would commit 21 turnovers with the Red Ravens holding a 21-18 advantage in points off turnovers that would loom large in a four-point contest. After shooting 48 percent (24-of-50) from the floor in regulation, Cloud County would be held to just a 25.0 percent (five-of-20) performance from the field in the overtime periods while hitting just one three in extra time as part of a six-of-22 (27.3 percent) performance for the game and 25-of-35 (71.4 percent) effort at the free-throw line.
 
Combining for 48 of CCCC's 89 points in the game would be Graham and Duckworth as the two would each play over 45 minutes in the contest and combine to go 20-of-25 from the free-throw line. Graham would manage to connect on 14-of-15 free throw attempts and grab 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double while Duckworth would add three rebounds and three assists. Athian would also reach double-figures, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
What's Next?  
Cloud County's next opportunity to try and get back in the win column will come on Saturday, January 8th as the T-Birds will travel to Garden City to take on the Broncbusters for a 4 PM contest inside the Perryman Athletic Center. Garden City handed Pratt their first home loss of the season by winning 80-78 on the road to move to 9-5 overall and 3-5 in the KJCCC. In the lone meeting between the teams last year, Garden City defeated Cloud County in Concordia by a score of 82-58 in a game that saw CCCC missing three of the top four leading scorers. The last win for Cloud County in Garden City came on February 15th, 2014 with a 56-51 win over the Broncbusters.