CONCORDIA, Kan. – Using a strong start that featured three made triples in the opening four minutes of play would allow the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team to jump out to a 15-9 lead and never trail to bounce back from their first Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference loss by defeating number-25 nationally-ranked Barton Community College by a score of 68-57 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, December 7th.
Picking up their ninth win of the year, Cloud County is now 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the KJCCC with four of their five conference victories coming by double-digits. Barton drops their second-straight game to fall to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in conference with both losses coming away from home.
With an electric home-crowd atmosphere ready at tip-off, the T-Birds would win the opening tip and get the game started with a
Joe Kearney triple as CCCC would force an empty Barton possession and get a fast break
Justin Graham layup to quickly go up 5-0. Another transition layup coming from
Corey Sawyer Jr. would cap off a game-opening 7-0 run from Cloud County in the opening 70 seconds of action as the T-Birds would control the tempo early on and take control on both ends of the court. With the lead threatening to reach double-digits, CCCC would see the Cougars get a defensive stop and layup to trail by a score of 15-8 with 14:03 remaining before giving up an open trey to
Cheikh Sow who would score nine points in the opening six minutes of play.
Pushing their lead to 12 on a Graham layup, the T-Birds would see their lead get all the way to 14 on an offensive rebound and tip-in by Sow off a missed layup as Cloud County would have Barton on the ropes mid-way through the opening half. A made Cougar three would quiet the crowd momentarily but become a sign of things to come. Two made free throws for BCC would see the double-digit T-Bird lead drop back down to eight at 29-21 with 7:55 left before halftime as a 14-2 run would allow Barton to completely erase a 12-point deficit and tie things at 29-29. Having gone over six minutes without a point, the Cloud County scoring drought would end with a made Sawyer Jr. triple that would put CCCC back up three at 32-29 and spark a 10-4 spurt to end the half which allowed the T-Birds to hold a 39-33 halftime lead.
Once again, Barton would make a run by scoring five straight points to open the second half and pull within one, but a Kearney free throw and Graham dunk on a Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. steal would push the lead back out to two possessions. With the home crowd starting to get back into the game, CCCC would extend their lead with a layup, and Sow's fifth made three of the game as things would reach double-digits again at 48-38.
Matching their largest lead of the first half on a made Graham jumper with 12:55 left in the game, the T-Birds would have some breathing room to work with as the Cougars would find themselves on the brink of having the game get put out of reach. Maintaining their lead over the next five minutes of action, the CCCC lead would reach its high-water mark on a Briggs Jr. layup with just over five minutes remaining. With both teams facing foul issues, it would be BCC who would see two of their top players foul out in the late stages of the game which allowed Cloud County to hold a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Doing what they do best, Cloud County would hold Barton 35 points under their season average as the Cougars entered the contest averaging 92 points per game before being held to a season-low. Shooting 47.9 percent (23-for-48) from the field, the T-Birds would also have their second-best outing from beyond the arc on the year by hitting on seven-of-15 (46.7 percent) of their shots from deep while also outscoring Barton 30-24 in points in the paint. BCC would hold a 36-29 advantage in rebounds and also turn 18 CCCC turnovers into 20 points but commit 24 of their own turnovers that would lead to 18 points for Cloud County.
A breakout performance from Sow would see the freshman from Thies, Senegal score a game-high 22 points and record seven steals and six rebounds for career-high performances in both points and steals. Joining Sow in double-figures would be Graham with 17 points and four assists despite dealing with foul trouble throughout the night while five other T-Birds would also get in on the scoring action. Barton would see a majority of their scoring come from three players with Cougar Downing scoring a team-high 14 points while Joseph Locandro (13) and Howard Johnson (11) would also reach double-figures.
What's Next?
The end of the first half of the season grind continues for Cloud County on Saturday when CCCC plays host to another nationally-ranked opponent in number-24 Butler Community College on Saturday, December 10th. The 4 PM contest will see the T-Birds host a 10-3 overall Butler squad that dropped an 84-70 home decision to eighth-ranked Dodge City Wednesday night for their first loss since November 19th at Seward County. The stretch for Cloud County sees the T-Birds play four consecutive games against ranked opponents as CCCC will travel to number-eight Dodge City next Monday before resuming play in January on the road against currently number-11 ranked Coffeyville.
