CONCORDIA, Kan. – A battle of two of the four nationally-ranked teams from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the last two unbeaten teams in the league would see the number-24 ranked Cloud County Community College men's basketball team be unable to pull off an upset of number-eight ranked Barton Community College in a 65-53 home loss inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Sunday, November 26th.
Falling for the first time this season, Cloud County drops to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the KJCCC while Barton remains perfect while improving to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in league play.
With the initial question on Sunday being which style of play would ultimately rule the day with Cloud County entering the game with the NJCAA's number-one scoring defense against the top-scoring offense in the KJCCC of Barton, it would be apparent in the opening minutes that scoring would be at a premium on both ends of the floor as the first made field goal would not come until the 16:18 mark of the first period. After seeing both teams get to the free throw line and allow Barton to go up 3-1, the Cougars would use an offensive rebound and tip-in to go up 5-1 before allowing the T-Birds to hit their first field goal of the contest with a made
Cheikh Sow triple that would bring CCCC within one at 5-4 and be followed by an
Abdoulaye Fall fast break layup that would put Cloud County on top for the one and only time in the contest at 6-5. Barton would reclaim the lead at the 12:34 mark of the first half on another offensive rebound leading to second-chance points as a pair of free throws a minute later by the Cougars would push the lead to a 9-6 BCC advantage at the mid-way point of the opening period.
Free throw shooting would continue to be a factor in the opening 20 minutes of play as both teams would find the opportunity for points at the charity stripe to be some of their better scoring chances while seeing the Barton lead hover between one and three points for the next three-plus minutes of play. A three by Amiri Ndayisaba would allow the Cougars to push their lead to two possessions as the deficit for Cloud County would ultimately grow to seven at 22-15 as BCC would start to find some open shots and connect from three to grow their lead. The advantage for Barton would get as high as nine in the opening half at 29-20 with 1:47 left before halftime, but a strong close by Cloud County would see Sow and
Ja'ron Briggs Jr. combine for the final four points of the period and allow CCCC to get within five at 29-24 at the half as 10 of Cloud County's points in the opening 20 minutes would come from the free throw line.
Neither team would be able to change the scoring margin over the opening five minutes of the second half as both teams would exchange the first 14 points to keep things at a five-point Barton lead until a Lajae Jones three that would start a 14-2 Cougar run to break things open and give BCC a 50-33 lead with 10:06 left in the game. Needing to come up with a response if they wanted to try and get back into the game, Cloud County would see
Emmanuel Manyuon hit on an open three to stop the run by Barton and start a 9-2 T-Bird run that would be capped off by a pair of free throws by Sow as the deficit would drop back down to 10 at 52-42 with just over six minutes left in the contest. CCCC would manage to get within nine on a tip-in by Sow just under a minute later before seeing Barton score five straight to go back up by 14 as the T-Birds would be unable to find enough offense down the stretch as foul trouble would become one of the biggest issues for CCCC in being able to mount a comeback.
Four of Cloud County's five starters would finish the game with at least three fouls as a total of 40 fouls would be called in the contest that featured physical play on both sides of the ball with both teams held to season-lows in points. Despite holding the Cougars 27 points under their season average of 92.6, CCCC would see Barton shoot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and hit seven-of-15 (46.7 percent) of their attempts from beyond the arc while going 12-of-18 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line. Cloud County meanwhile would muster just a 30.8 percent (16-of-52) effort from the field and five-of-23 (21.7 percent) performance from three while hitting 76.2 percent (16-of-21) of their free throw attempts. Rebounding would be a 42-33 advantage for Barton along with a 15-11 advantage in points off turnovers as Cloud County would also see BCC outscore the T-Birds 17-8 in second-chance points.
Four different players reached double-figures for Cloud County as CCCC would be led by a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double from Sow while getting 10 points each from Briggs Jr., Manyuon, and
Isaiah Sy. Jones led Barton and had game-highs of 25 points and 15 rebounds with no other player for BCC scoring more than nine points total.
What's Next?
Another tough battle awaits Cloud County at home as the T-Birds will host Garden City Community College on Wednesday, November 29th at 8 PM for their next contest. The Broncbusters improved to 6-2 overall on Sunday afternoon by dispatching Pratt by a score of 82-66 in Garden City. GCCC saw their two losses come on consecutive nights, falling to Lamar by a score of 80-72 on November 6th before losing 64-49 to Otero Junior College the following night before rattling off what has become a five-game winning streak. Despite holding a 3-0 record in the Jayhawk Conference, however, Garden City's KJCCC wins have come against foes that have a combined record of 7-18 which includes an 0-9 mark in the KJCCC.
