CONCORDIA, Kan. – For just the second time this season, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would overcome a halftime deficit and manage to pull an 80-76 home upset of number-16 nationally-ranked Garden City Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, February 16th.
 
The win moves Cloud County to 13-15 overall and 9-13 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Garden City loses for just the second time in 2022 to fall to 21-7 overall and 15-7 in the KJCCC.
 
With tempo and pace favoring the nationally-ranked Broncbusters for much of the game, CCCC would will their way to victory as the turning point in the game would come at the 11:12 mark of the second half with a massive Zion Obanla dunk and foul that would turn into a game-tying three-point play. The first half would feature six lead changes and five ties as Cloud County would lead by as many as seven while Garden City would hold a six-point lead in the opening minutes of the game. Trailing 13-7 after a turnover and fast-break layup from GCCC, the T-Birds would begin to lock in and take care of the ball to tie things at 17-17 with 11:41 remaining before taking their first lead of the game on a Nate Duckworth steal and layup.
 
Cloud County's lead would hold for the next nine minutes of action as Corey Sawyer Jr. would give CCCC their largest lead of the first half at 29-22 on a made three before seeing Garden City respond with eight of the next 10 points to get back within two with 2:54 left in the first half. An offensive rebound and put back by Mohamed Diarra would allow GCCC to tie the game back up at 31-31 momentarily before a Justin Graham layup would put the T-Birds back out in front as the two teams would wind up trading each of the next eight points. Garden City would manage to reclaim the lead on a Rodney Lewis triple with 51 seconds left in the half and add a three-point play on their final possession of the half to hold a 39-39 after freshman Joe Kearney would hit CCCC's sixth three of the first half to end the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
Duckworth would give Cloud County the lead in the opening seconds of the second half as the T-Birds would score six of the first eight points to go up 44-41 with 18:19 left in the game. A 10-0 Garden City run would appear to allow the Broncbusters to begin to take control of the game over the course of the next three minutes of action, but a Duckworth layup would end the drought for CCCC and spark a 9-2 run that was capped off by the aforementioned three-point play for Obanla. With the game now tied at 55-55, Cloud County would retake the lead on a pair of Savian Edwards free throws before seeing the Broncbusters hit on three free throws to go back up 58-57.
 
Malang Athian would put the T-Birds back out in front with a layup on a pass from Kearney as the next nine points of the game were scored by CCCC (seven by Athian). Garden City would stop the run with a Diarra layup followed by a timeout with 6:27 left in the game as the Broncbusters would close to within four with just under six minutes remaining. A 6-2 spurt from Cloud County would push the T-Bird lead back out to eight on an Obanla fast-break layup with CCCC continuing to hold momentum. Another GCCC run would bring the Broncbusters within four once more, but Kearney would get in on the monster dunk action with an absolute slam of his own and foul to put the T-Birds up 75-69 with 2:18 left in the game.
 
Following a foul and turnover on Garden City, Cloud County would get Obanla to the free-throw line where he would connect on one of two attempts before adding a Jalen Smith free throw with 1:35 left to go up 77-69. The Broncbusters would refuse to go away quietly, connecting on  Josh Nwankwo triple 10 seconds later to cut the deficit to five as the game would begin to come down to free throw shooting by CCCC. Turnovers from both teams on their next possessions would put the ball back into the hands of Cloud County with 44 seconds of clock having been burned off to put things under a minute to play and still a five-point T-Bird lead.
 
Sawyer Jr. would be fouled with 24 seconds left and sink a pair of free throws to make it a seven-point game as time would become the biggest factor for GCCC to attempt a potential comeback. A drive to the hoop would lead to a Cloud County foul where Garden City would hit one free throw and be forced to foul on the defensive end as CCCC would match the free throw to go back up seven with five seconds left. The Broncbusters would add a game-ending triple as time expired as the final margin of victory for Cloud County would be four.
 
Overcoming a 44-33 deficit in rebounding and 24-7 deficit in second-chance points, CCCC would outscore GCCC 44-30 in points in the paint. Garden City would also outscore Cloud County 30-21 in points from beyond the arc, but finish the game just 37.3 percent (25-of-67) from the field compared to a 49.2 percent (29-for-59) outing for the T-Birds.
 
Kearney would lead Cloud County with 18 points and four assists while Athian added 15 points and three rebounds. Edwards contributed 12 points off the bench while both Obanla (nine) and Duckworth (eight) would finish just shy of scoring in double-figures. Diarra would score a game-high 23 points and grab a game-best 15 rebounds as Tone Hunter would add 13 for the Broncbusters.  
 
What's Next?
Cloud County is scheduled to make a road trip to Cowley Community College on Saturday, February 12th for a 7:30 PM tip-off inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. Cowley fell by a score of 79-66 at home to Butler Community College on Wednesday night and has lost three straight games and four of their last six dating back to a 70-60 road defeat to Cloud County on January 31st.