DODGE CITY, Kan. – A 10th game this season that was decided by less than five points for the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would end in heartbreak as number six nationally-ranked Dodge City Community College would score a game-winning bucket with 2.9 seconds left to hand the T-Birds a 73-71 loss inside the Student Activities Center in Dodge City, Kansas on Saturday, February 12th.
The game, which marks the sixth in 26 outings that Cloud County has faced a nationally-ranked foe, drops the T-Birds to 11-15 overall and 7-13 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Dodge City's victory keeps the Conquistadors on pace to earn a KJCCC regular-season title by improving to 22-24 overall and 17-3 in the KJCCC to maintain a three-game lead over second-place Garden City.
Playing at home would be to the benefit of DC3 in the first half as the Conquistadors would score the first five points of the game and nine of the first 11 to jump out to a 9-2 lead as the start would force Cloud County into a timeout with 15:32 left in the opening half. Sophomore
Malang Athian would manage to spark the T-Birds out of the timeout, throwing down a dunk and hitting a three to offset a Dodge City jumper as CCCC would get back within four at 11-7 less than a minute after the timeout. Dodge City's lead would be maintained over the next several minutes of play as both teams would start to settle in as defense would be a factor in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
Trailing 20-14 with 9:57 left in the first half, Cloud County would get a steal from
Jaelen Treml who would find Athian for a breakaway dunk as the T-Birds would score the next six points to tie things at 20-20. A DC3 triple would put the Conquistadors back out in front, but it would be short-lived as a
Corey Sawyer Jr. three-point play would be followed by a
Joe Kearney three to give Cloud County their first lead of the game. Dodge City's fourth three of the first half would tie things up yet again at 26-26 as neither team would find a way to control heading into the final five minutes of the half. After going up five at 31-26 on another Kearney triple, Cloud County would see Dodge City make another push to get within one before scoring eight of the next 10 to go up seven at 40-33. A foul however in the final seconds of the half would allow the Conquistadors to hit a pair of free throws that would put things at a 40-35 halftime lead for CCCC.
Dodge City would come out of the locker room and look to try and take control of the game as five of the first seven points would be scored by DC3. Leading by two at 42-40, Cloud County would respond by scoring the seven of the next nine to go back up seven at 49-42 to maintain their lead after the first seven minutes of the second period. Following a Mykell Robinson free throw for the Conquistadors, CCCC would use a pair of
Savian Edwards free throws and Kearney layup to take their largest lead of the game at 53-43 as Dodge City would not have a defensive answer for the Cloud County offense.
DC3 would instead turn their attention to the offensive end by scoring 10 of the next 12 points with all 10 Conquistador points coming on layups. Dodge City would then knot things up at 55-55 with 8:34 left in the game before reclaiming the lead on a three as the T-Birds would be held to just two points over a span of nearly five minutes. The quick comeback would allow DC3 time to try and build on their lead as the aggressive offensive style would allow the Conquistadors to go up six at 66-60 with 5:14 remaining before giving up five of the next seven points to CCCC.
Trailing 69-65 with 2:59 left, Cloud County would get a Kearney layup before seeing the freshman force a turnover and make an outlet pass to Athian who would be all alone for a go-ahead dunk with 2:19 left. Following an empty possession from each team, Dodge City would get another layup to tie the score at 69-69. Two made free throws for DC3 after a Cloud County foul would put DC3 back up 71-69, but a
Justin Graham dunk on a slip cut pass tie things once again. Graham would then come up huge on the defensive end by making a block on a potential game-winning layup for the Conquistadors as the ball would find its way out of bounds with nine seconds left. Following a Dodge City timeout, the Conquistadors would make a drive to the hoop and lay in a go-ahead bucket with 2.9 seconds left as the T-Birds would attempt to quickly inbound the ball and put up a desperation shot that would fall short and allow DC3 to escape with the win.
In a game that was about as statistically even as possible, Cloud County would shoot 54.0 percent (27-of-50) from the field and six-of-14 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Dodge City managed to connect on half of their field goal attempts (26-of-52, 50 percent) and six-of-16 (37.5 percent) of their shots from deep but take advantage of eight more free throw attempts than CCCC as the Conquistadors would outscore the T-Birds 15-11 at the charity stripe (15-of-22 for Dodge City, 11-of-14 for Cloud County).
Four of CCCC's five starters would reach double-figures as Kearney would score a team-best 18 points and add two blocks while Sawyer Jr. provided 13 points and had four assists. Graham filled the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block while Athian would score nine of his 11 points in the first half as part of an 11-point, four-assist performance. Dodge City was led by a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds from Nick Pringle who finished a perfect eight-of-eight from the field.
What's Next?
A return trip to Coffeyville, Kansas to take on the Red Ravens is in store for Cloud County as the T-Birds will head to Nellis Hall to tip things off at 7:30 PM on Monday, February 14th. In this season's previous meeting between the two teams, Cloud County would push the defending national champions to a third overtime before ultimately falling by a score of 93-89. Coffeyville was off on Saturday and will be coming off 63-54 home win over Independence on Wednesday that moved the Red Ravens to 13-11 overall and 10-8 in the KJCCC.
