CONCORDIA, Kan. – For the fifth time in the first six games of the season, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would have little trouble with an opponent on their way to a 25-point home victory over Seward County Community College with an 82-57 win in their 2023-24 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference opener inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, November 18th.
Remaining as one of two unbeaten teams left in the KJCCC, Cloud County improves to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the KJCCC while Seward County drops to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the KJCCC.
With both teams wanting to make their defensive presence felt in the opening minutes of the game, it would be CCCC who would be able to keep the Saints off the scoreboard for the first two-plus minutes while building a 9-3 lead in the opening 3:17 of the first half. The lead for the T-Birds would grow with a made
Cheikh Sow layup followed by a triple from the Thies, Senegal native as CCCC would go up double-digits at 16-5 before pushing their lead to 13 with just over 13 minutes left in the opening period. Seward County would battle their way back to within eight over the next five minutes with the T-Birds holding a 20-12 lead with 8:10 left before halftime as Cloud County would manage to push their lead back up to 12 at 25-13 with a pair of free throws from Sow with just over four minutes left in the first. Down the stretch, CCCC would continue to build their lead with a
Ja'ron Briggs Jr. layup starting a 7-1 run that would put the T-Birds up 32-15 with 1:42 remaining before halftime with the Saints managing to score five of the final seven points in the half to put things at a 14-point halftime lead for the T-Birds.
Cloud County's lead would be extended in the first four minutes of the second half as CCCC would outscore SCCC 11-5 to make things a 20-point contest at 45-25 after a
Kyle McElroy layup with the T-Birds cruising. Eight of the following 11 points would also be scored by Cloud County to push things to a 25-point lead with CCCC continuing to impose their will and have few struggles on the offensive end as things would eventually become a 30-point advantage with 9:25 left in the game. Continuing to pour things on, the T-Birds would grow their lead to as many as 37 with 3:42 remaining before finally calling off the pressure and letting the final three minutes play out without having any of their five starters on the floor which would allow Seward County to score 19 of the final 26 points of the game to bring the final margin down to 25.
Another game that saw CCCC shoot over 50 percent from the field in both halves would see Cloud County finish the game 27-of-51 (52.9 percent) from the field along with a six-of-15 (40.0 percent) effort from three and 22-of-34 (64.7 percent) outing from the charity stripe in a game that featured 51 total fouls. The T-Birds would hold a 47-35 advantage on the boards and also outscore Seward County 26-18 in points off turnovers while getting a 16-12 advantage in second-chance points.
A game-high 22-point effort from Briggs Jr. would be paired with seven rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes of action while Sow would add 21 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the year.
Abdoulaye Fall would also reach double-figures by scoring 15 points and having a team-best three steals while Seward County would get a team-high 14 points from Blessin Kimble.
What's Next?
Cloud County will put their unbeaten record on the line with just their second true road game of the year on Tuesday, November 21st when the T-Birds head to Coffeyville for a 7:30 PM contest inside Nellis Hall. The Red Ravens picked up an 85-70 win at home over Pratt on Saturday afternoon to improve to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the KJCCC.
