EL DORADO, Kan. – A back-and-forth contest that would see the final 9:09 of regulation played with neither team holding a lead of more than two points, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would once again see overtime prove to be unkind in a 67-60 road defeat at number-16 ranked Butler Community College inside the Power Plant in El Dorado, Kansas on Saturday, February 11th.
The loss drops Cloud County to 12-13 overall and 8-11 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference as nine of CCCC's 13 losses and nine of their 11 conference losses have now come by single digits. Butler picks up the win in their first overtime contest of the season to improve to 20-6 overall and 14-6 in the KJCCC to remain just one game back of second place in the conference standings with four games remaining in the regular season.
With both teams entering Saturday's contest allowing under 68 points per game, a low-scoring battle was expected and lived up to the expectations as just six points would be scored in the opening five minutes of the game. Holding a 4-2 lead, CCCC would get a made three from
Andre Gray II to take their largest lead of the game with 14:53 left in the first half before seeing Butler respond with six-straight points to go up 8-7 two minutes later. Both teams would trade leads over the next three minutes of the contest with a
Joe Kearney trey putting the T-Birds up 12-11 with just under 11 minutes left in the first half as the lead would remain with Cloud County past the midway point of the period.
Butler would pull back even at 14-14 with 7:55 left in the half as part of an 11-2 run that would see the T-Birds fall behind by a score of 22-16 with just under five minutes left before halftime. Ending the run by getting another made three by Kearney, Cloud County would pull within one on their next possession with a pair of Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. free throws before seeing BCC score five of the final seven points of the first half to hold a 27-23 lead after 20 minutes of action.
Extending their run to begin the second half, the Grizzlies would score the first three points of the second half and eight of the first 11 to take their largest lead of the game at 35-26 with just 1:13 of the period having been played. Responding with a made shot from Kearney, Cloud County would score the next six to get back within one possession at 35-32 before seeing both teams go back and forth on the offensive end. Trailing by a 41-37 score with 13:36 left in regulation, CCCC would get a made triple from Briggs Jr. to pull within one before back-to-back buckets from BCC to trail by five. Following the second field goal by Butler, a technical foul would be called on the Grizzlies as
Corey Sawyer Jr. would get into the scoring column for the first time in the game with 9:52 remaining in the second half on a pair of free throws that would spark a 7-0 T-Bird spurt.
Having gone from a five-point deficit to a two-point lead, CCCC would be working with their first lead since the 8:50 mark of the first half as the lead would remain intact over the next four minutes of the game. A pair of Butler free throws would erase the Cloud County lead and put the T-Birds in a 48-47 hole with 4:12 remaining and fouls beginning to mount up on both sides. Despite enduring a 6:22 scoring drought in the most pivotal part of the game, CCCC would be able to keep Butler from growing their lead and only face a two-point deficit with 1:38 remaining in regulation and still very much with a chance to win. Turning to sophomore
Justin Graham, CCCC would tie things on a layup with 1:15 remaining before committing a foul on the defensive end to put Isaiah Williams on the free throw line for Butler.
The two-shot foul would be converted by Butler to put the Grizzlies back up two before a foul with 31 seconds left would give Cloud County a chance to tie the game with the clock stopped. Sawyer Jr. would hit on both of his attempts for his eighth made free throw of the second half to tie things at 51-51 and put the T-Bird defense as the focus. Forcing a long pass from the backcourt, CCCC would see the Grizzlies turn the ball over with 18 seconds remaining and the shot clock off as Cloud County would now have a chance at a game-winning shot. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, BCC would stand tall on defense and never allow a shot attempt to get off by Cloud County with the game going into overtime after a deadlocked 40 minutes of gameplay.
In the extra period, Butler would begin to become aggressive on offense and get to the free throw line to take an early lead as part of a 6-1 run in the first two minutes of overtime. A Sawyer Jr. layup would cut the BCC lead from four to two at 57-55 with 2:26 remaining before seeing the Grizzlies hit an open three and get a layup off a CCCC turnover to go up seven with just under two minutes remaining. The BCC lead would grow to as many as nine in the final minute as the T-Birds would wind up getting outscored 16-9 in the overtime period.
Limited opportunities would see Cloud County put up 54 field goal attempts in the game as part of a 19-for-54 (35.2 percent) outing that included a five-of-18 (27.8 percent) effort from beyond the arc. Points would be left at the charity stripe by the T-Birds with nine missed free throws in regulation proving to be costly as CCCC would finish 17-of-25 (68.0 percent) from the free throw line. Butler meanwhile would shoot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the floor and manage to go 17-for-21 (81.0 percent) from the free throw line as a 38-30 advantage in rebounds would also benefit the Grizzlies. Points in the paint would be a 34-14 advantage for BCC while the T-Birds would edge Butler in points off turnovers by a 12-11 margin.
A balanced scoring effort would see no player for Cloud County score more than 12 points in the game despite four players reaching double-figures and seven of the eight T-birds to play wind up in the scoring column. Scoring a team-high 12 points would be Sawyer Jr. to go along with five rebounds while both Briggs Jr. and Gray II would score 11 points. Butler would get a game-high 18 points from Williams while Treylon Payne would score 15 points and pull in 11 rebounds for the game's only double-double performance.
What's Next?
Two home games next week for Cloud County will come against the top-two teams in the conference standings beginning on Wednesday, February 15th when 14th-ranked Dodge City makes their way to Arley Bryant Gymnasium for an 8 PM tip-off. The Conquistadors are 18-6 overall and 14-4 in the KJCCC ahead of a road matchup on Saturday evening at Hutchinson. Earlier this season, DCCC defeated Cloud County by a score of 82-80 in Dodge City to hand the T-Birds their first conference loss.
