CONCORDIA, Kan. – A 19-point deficit to begin the second half would be trimmed all the way down to just three by the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team as five shots in the final 26 seconds of the game would not fall for the T-Birds to lose by a final score of 67-64 to Pratt Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, February 4th.
 
Falling to the Beavers by a 67-64 final for the second-time this season, Cloud County falls to 12-11 overall and 8-9 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while PCC has now won seven of their past 10 games to improve to 13-9 overall and 10-7 in the KJCCC.
 
A tightly contested opening 10 minutes of play would see both teams go back and forth with one another as neither squad would lead by more than three until the 10:25 mark of the opening period. Seven total lead changes would be seen through the first 10-plus minutes of the game with CCCC holding an 11-8 lead following a made Joe Kearney triple before seeing Pratt go on a 15-2 run to take control of the game with a 23-13 lead for the Beavers with 6:38 left in the first half. Back-to-back buckets courtesy of Malang Athian and Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. would bring Cloud County back within six just over a minute later, but PCC would respond by scoring five quick points from Sterling Young as part of a 7-0 spurt to go up 13 with 3:30 left before halftime.
 
Needing to try and make a run to cut into the lead before the end of the half, the T-Birds would get an Athian triple to get within 10 but see Pratt eventually outscore CCCC 7-2 down the final stretch of the half to go up 37-22 at the end of the half. Following the final buzzer to the opening period, Cloud County head coach Devin Kastrup would be assessed two technical fouls and an ejection which would give the Beavers four free throws to begin the second half as PCC would connect on all four to take their largest lead of the game at 41-22.
 
In their first three possessions of the second half, Cloud County would get made three-point field goals from Kearney and Cav Carlgren to spark a 15-2 run that would be capped off by an Athian dunk and layup on back-to-back possessions to suddenly trail by only six at 43-37. Answering right back would be Pratt with a made three followed by a pair of free throws to push the lead back to double-digits which is where things would remain for the next four-plus minutes of game time. With the deficit for CCCC at 54-45 with 9:54 remaining, Pratt would add to their lead with a layup and two more free throws over the next minute to go back up 13 while eventually pushing their lead to 15 with 7:40 remaining and things starting to get away from the T-Birds.
 
Free throw shooting would then become the biggest factor for Cloud County as the T-Birds would find themselves getting to the line multiple times to keep the deficit from growing any larger before forcing three Pratt turnovers on consecutive possessions to trim the once 15-point deficit all the down to six in the span of 1:33. After seeing the Beavers try to eat up clock before putting up a desperation layup that would miss everything, the T-Birds would inch closer with a pair of Corey Sawyer Jr. free throws to get within four before seeing sophomore Justin Graham foul out on the defensive end to send PCC to the free throw line. Matching CCCC with a pair of made free throws, the Beaver lead would be back at six with 2:01 remaining for all of 11 seconds as Athian would hit an open three to get Cloud County within three points with 1:50 left in the game.
 
Forcing a one-and-done opportunity on the offensive end for Pratt, the T-Birds would get an open look at a three by Briggs Jr. that would be off the mark but wind up out of bounds to CCCC. Pratt would then force Cloud County into a turnover as the T-Birds would be forced to go back on the defensive side of things where they would force another turnover late in the shot clock to regain possession with 36 seconds left. Opting to go for a two-point shot to get within one, a Kearney layup would miss but be grabbed by Briggs Jr. who would kick the ball out to Sawyer Jr. for an open three attempt that would also not find the bottom of the hoop. Keeping the possession alive yet again, Briggs Jr. would find Kearney for a corner three that would miss but end up in the hands of Kyle McElroy who would get things back out to Athian for yet another chance at a game-tying three that would hit off the back of the rim. Off the miss by Athian, Sawyer Jr. would grab the rebound with just under two seconds remaining but would be unable to get outside the three-point arc to attempt one final shot before the final buzzer as PCC would survive all five attempts from CCCC on their final possession.
 
Held to just a 34.8 percent (23-of-66) shooting percentage from the floor, Cloud County would finish with nine made threes on 26 attempts (34.6 percent) but struggle from the free throw line with a nine-of-17 (52.9 percent) performance that would loom large throughout the day. Pratt meanwhile would shoot 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the field and 16-of-20 (80.0 percent) from the charity stripe to offset just a three-of-12 (25.0 percent) performance from three while also holding a 13-4 advantage in second-chance points.
 
Scoring a team-high 20 points would be Athian to go along with three rebounds while Kearney (17 points) and Briggs Jr. (11) would also reach double-figures in the game. Pratt meanwhile would get a game-high 23 points from Young as three starters would finish with at least 10 points in the game for the Beavers.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County is on the road for a pair of games next week, beginning with a Wednesday evening road trip to Barton Community College on February 8th. The Cougars are 15-8 overall and 10-7 in the KJCCC following a 95-86 loss to Coffeyville on Saturday, but sport a 9-3 home record this season inside the Kirkman Center. CCCC won the previous matchup this season between the two teams with a 68-57 home win on December 7th and won for just the sixth time in program history at Barton in their lone trip to Great Bend last season. Overall, Barton has 13 of the past 15 contests played between CCCC and BCC.