CONCORDIA, Kan. – A meeting of the top-two defensive teams in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference would see the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team hold visiting and number 24-ranked Butler Community College to just 44 points to secure a 59-44 home win inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, December 10th.
 
For the second time in the span of four days, Cloud County would defend their home court and knock off a nationally-ranked conference foe to improve to 10-3 overall and 6-1 in the KJCCC as the victory would mark CCCC's second win of the year when being held under 60 points. Butler meanwhile would drop to 10-4 overall and 4-4 in the Jayhawk Conference after being held 24 points below their previous season low of 67 points that occurred on November 5th.
 
"Butler entered today as the second-best defense in the league in terms of points allowed and is a very sound and well-coached team" said head coach Devin Kastrup in a post-game interview. "Coming in we knew it was going to be a defensive battle and we managed to win out in what became a game of attrition." "The difference in the game was the run that we made at the end of the first half and the small run we made to begin the second half." "Outside of those runs, it was a very even game and it came down to us making a couple more plays in those stretches to extend our lead."
 
Efficiency would be key for the T-Birds in the opening 20 minutes of action as Cloud County would utilize a size advantage in the paint to grab an early lead three minutes into the game. Butler meanwhile would be content with taking shots from the outside and managing to knock down some open jumpers to keep things close and eventually grab a 15-13 lead with 13:24 left in the first half. Reclaiming the lead with a Joe Kearney triple, CCCC would see the Grizzlies go back up by a two-point margin at 17-15 with just over 10 minutes left before halftime as the game would become a back-and-forth clash for a span of five minutes of game time.
 
With the score tied at 20-20 with 9:05 remaining in the first half, the T-Birds would make their move beginning with a made Cheikh Sow layup before getting an Andre Gray II steal that would lead to another layup by Sow. Holding Butler scoreless for nearly four minutes, CCCC would continue to add to their lead down the stretch with back-to-back made triples by Kearney and eventually going up double-digits at 35-25 on a Corey Sawyer Jr. three-point play. Butler would respond by drawing a foul and hitting two free throws, but give up a layup to Sawyer Jr. on Cloud County's final offensive possession of the half and come up empty on their end to put things at a 37-27 T-Bird lead heading into the break.
 
Scoring each of the first seven points of the second half, CCCC would take their largest lead of the game with 17 minutes left at 44-27 as BCC would be in danger of having the game blown completely open by the T-Birds. A resilient Grizzly squad would respond by scoring eight of the next 10 points while holding Cloud County to just one field goal over the next five minutes of play. Despite the Butler run, the T-Birds would manage to maintain a double-digit lead until the 9:45 mark of the second half as a layup by Caleb Golden of BCC would bring things within nine at 48-39 as CCCC would need to find some offense to keep things from getting any tighter.
 
Seeing their lead get down to seven on another Butler layup, Cloud County would finally get back on the board with a made shot from Justin Graham and score six of the next eight points to go back up 11 with time starting to become a factor for the Grizzlies. With the score sitting at 54-44 with just over three minutes remaining, CCCC would see Sawyer Jr. draw a timely foul on BCC and convert one of two free throw attempts before getting a defensive stop. Another Butler foul would send Sawyer Jr. back to the line where he would hit both free throws to continue growing the CCCC lead with the final dagger coming on a Graham fake handoff and drive to the hoop for a dunk to give the T-Bird a 59-44 lead with 1:39 remaining. Both teams would see their final offensive possessions over the final 90-plus seconds of game time go empty as Cloud County would put together their eighth win of the year by double-digits.
 
A 50-percent (16-of-32) shooting performance in the first half by the T-Birds would help offset a seven-for-26 (26.9 percent) second-half shooting slump as CCCC would be limited to just 22 second-half points with seven of the points coming at the free throw line. Butler would net just nine field goals (nine-of-22, 40.9 percent) in the first half and go four-of-25 (16.0 percent) in the second half to shoot just 27.7 percent from the floor in the game despite a 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) performance from the free throw line. The T-Birds would get back in positive rebounding territory by outrebounding the Grizzlies 40-34 and outscoring BCC 34-18 in the paint while matching their season low in turnovers (11).
 
A massive 15-point, 14-rebound performance from Graham would fuel the CCCC victory as the Colorado Springs, Colorado native would do most of his damage (11 points, 10 rebounds) in the second half while Kearney would lead all scorers in the contest with 16 points. Adding 14 points and three assists would be Sawyer Jr. while Malang Athian and Sow would each score six. Butler would get a team-best 12 points from Rob Brown as no other player for BCC would record more than eight total points.
 
What's Next?
One final game remains in the pre-holiday portion of the conference schedule as Cloud County will take on eighth-ranked Dodge City in a battle of the top-two teams in the league on Monday, December 12th. Following a Conquistador loss to Hutchinson on Saturday, both CCCC and DCCC sit atop the KJCCC at 6-1 in conference play as the winner will enter a three-plus week break from action as the lone team atop the 13-team conference.