CONCORDIA, Kan. – A battle for 30-plus minutes of game time would see the number-25 nationally-ranked Cloud County Community men's basketball team use a 12-2 run to put enough separation between themselves and visiting Garden City Community College to pull away for a 66-54 home victory inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, November 29th.
Working their way back into the win column to finish the first month of the regular season with an 8-1 mark, Cloud County is now 3-1 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Garden City falls to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the KJCCC after facing their first KJCCC foe with a winning record this season.
In what was expected to be a low-scoring affair, Cloud County would open the scoring with a
Cheikh Sow layup before seeing Garden City's Brody Robinson connect on back-to-back triples as GCCC would have all of their first 11 points of the game come from the Houston, Texas native and UT-Chattanooga transfer to build an 11-8 lead after seven minutes of action. Managing to keep the score close with Sow and
Abdoulaye Fall accounting for six of their first eight points, CCCC would get within one on another layup from Fall with 10:51 remaining before halftime as neither team would be able to build a lead of more than four. Following the bucket for the T-Birds, Garden City would get a Braxton Jones pull-up jumper and another Robinson triple as the lead for GCCC would balloon to a game-high eight at 21-13 with 6:27 remaining in the half with the Broncbusters starting to settle in offensively.
Just as the offense was picking up for Garden City, however, Cloud County would respond with a pair of
Ja'ron Briggs Jr. free-throws followed by an
Isaiah Sy three to bring CCCC back within three at 21-18 heading into the final five minutes of the opening period. Free-throw shooting would again work to the benefit of Cloud County as Sow would manage to work his way to the line and connect on two attempts to get Cloud County within a point at 21-20 as the T-Birds would end the half by scoring 10 of the final 12 points to completely erase the once eight-point deficit and tie things up at 23-23 heading into the locker room at the half.
Having weathered the run by Garden City in the first half, Cloud County would make sure not to let the Broncbusters go on another large run in the second half as GCCC never would be able to take a lead of more than four throughout the opening 10 minutes of the second period. Trailing 34-30 with 14:26 remaining, CCCC once again would work their way to the charity stripe with Fall hitting on both tries to cut the lead in half before a go-ahead three from Sy to put Cloud County up 35-34 with just 30 seconds later. Following the Sy triple, Cloud County's
Emmanuel Manyuon would follow with a three of his own to give the T-Birds a four-point advantage at 38-34 as it would appear that CCCC would finally start to be taking advantage of a home crowd that was starting to affect the visiting Broncbusters. Managing to hold their lead over the next four minutes of play, Cloud County would use a steal by Sy that would turn into a fast break layup by Briggs Jr. to go up five and continue to put pressure on Garden City as the Broncbusters never could find a way to close the gap.
With the lead still hovering between three and five points with just under eight minutes remaining, Cloud County would use a Fall layup and free throw to start a 9-0 run with five of the nine points coming at the charity stripe as the lead would grow to double-digits for the first time all game with CCCC going up 60-49 with 4:14 remaining. The lead for the T-Birds would grow to 12 a minute later on a backdoor layup from Manyuon and eventually 13 at 66-53 following a layup from Briggs Jr. as Cloud County would start to see time become the biggest factor for Garden City as less than two minutes would remain in the contest. Following an empty possession by GCCC and a lengthy offensive CCCC possession, both teams would see the writing on the wall as the T-Birds would make mass substitutions in the final minute to cap off a 12-point victory to continue a streak of all their victories this season coming by double-digits.
A poor offensive performance in the first half that saw just seven-of-27 (25.93 percent) of their shots fall would be followed up by a 12-of-26 (46.15 percent) effort in the second half as Cloud County would make the most of 29 free throw attempts by connecting on 22 (75.9 percent) and go six-of-19 (31.6 percent) from beyond the arc. Outscoring Garden City 18-1 in bench points, CCCC would hold a 22-3 advantage in points off turnovers after turning the ball over just four times while forcing Garden City into 17 turnovers to offset a 40-27 deficit on the boards.
Four different players reached double-figures for Cloud County including a team-high 17 from Fall while both Sy and Sow would finish with 15 points and a combined 10-for-11 at the free throw line. Briggs Jr. also reached double-figures for the ninth consecutive game to go along with five rebounds and two assists while playing a game-high 39 minutes. Garden City got a game-high 22 points from Robinson who would be held to just eight points in the second half.
What's Next?
Last year's KJCCC regular-season champion Dodge City Community College is up next for Cloud County as the T-Birds will look for their first win in Dodge City since the 2019-20 season when CCCC earned a 79-69 win over Conquistadors. Currently sitting at 4-6 overall, Dodge City dropped a 79-67 decision to Pratt on Wednesday evening in a game that they never led and saw the Beavers protect their home court. The game will be just Dodge City's third home game this season, as eight of their first 10 games came away from their home court.
