Men's Basketball | 12/13/2024 10:37:00 AM

The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team will play host to the Hutchinson Blue Dragons on Saturday, December 14. Tip from Arley Bryant Gymnasium will be at 4 pm. The game will be streamed live on the T-Bird Sports Network. Fans can also listen to the game on 1390 KNCK and 98.3 FM.

Cloud County (9-4, 3-4 KJCCC) has lost three straight and is coming off an 84-68 road loss at Coffeyville on December 11. Hutchinson (7-5, 3-3 KJCCC) ended a two-game losing skid with an 83-78 home win against Garden City on December 11.

The T-Birds are 3-2 at home this season with both losses coming against Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference foes Barton and Independence. Cloud County enters Saturday's matchup averaging 79.6 points per game with a plus-6.3 scoring margin. The T-Birds pull down 38.5 rebounds per outing with a plus-1.1 rebound margin. Cloud County ranks fourth in the conference in team defense, limiting opponents to 41.2 percent shooting, including 29.0 percent shooting from behind the arc. The T-Birds also average 13.2 assists, 7.1 steals and 4.0 blocks per game, which ranks third best in the conference.

Freshman forward Elidjah Savane leads Cloud County in four statistical categories: scoring, field-goal percentage, rebounding and blocked shots. The 6-foot-8 native of Nanterre, France is averaging 14.5 points per game on 58.1 percent shooting with nine consecutive double-digit scoring performances. Savane has three double-doubles, tied for the most on the team. His 8.2 rebounds per game ranks fifth in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Savane also ranks fifth in the conference in blocked shots at 2.1 per game.

Redshirt freshman guard Keyon Garrett-Miller has recorded back-to-back games with 20 points or more, including scoring a season-high 23 points in the loss at Coffeyville on December 11. Garrett-Miller is averaging 14.0 points per game and he leads Cloud County in assists and steals at 2.8 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game.

Redshirt freshman Matthew Garber is third on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game, and second on the team in rebounding at 6.2 rebounds per game. Garber also leads the team with 34 made three-pointers, which is the fourth most in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.

Freshman guard Syncere Burnette has been a consistent performer off the bench as the team's sixth man. Burnette currently leads the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference in three-point field-goal percentage at 45.7 percent while averaging 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Burnette also has the best free-throw percentage on the team at 80.0 percent.

Freshman guard Kuel Akot has started all 13 games this season and is averaging 9.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 75.9 percent from the foul line.

Other T-Bird regulars include sophomore Fallou Koite (5.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg), freshman Da'Ron Waller (3.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg), freshman Vuk Zarubica (3.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg), sophomore Roy Aviv (3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg), freshman Amare Johnson (2.8 ppg, 52.9 percent FG), freshman Takeo Moore (1.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg), and Freshman Dejuan Graise (1.8 ppg).