Men's Basketball | 12/14/2024 8:21:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team closed out the first semester with a 77-73 home loss to Hutchinson in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play on Saturday, January 14.

For the T-Birds, they have lost four straight to enter the holiday break at 9-5 overall and 3-5 in conference action.

Cloud County got off to a hot start, grabbing an 11 point lead at 15-4 by the under 16 media timeout. That lead was largely due to early turnovers on the Blue Dragons as well as big shots by the T-Birds, with freshman Kuel Akot and redshirt freshman Keyon Garrett-Miller both hitting three-pointers in the first four minutes of play.

Freshman forward Elidjah Savane also made meaningful contributions in the first half, scoring 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting and pulling down four rebounds before being sidelined with two fouls.

Hutchinson trimmed Cloud County's lead down to eight points at two separate intervals, but the T-Birds closed out the half on a 7-1 run, capped by a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Matthew Garber, to lead 40-26 at the break.

Cloud County captured its biggest lead of the game at 16 points on a layup by Savane on their first possession of the second half. Soon, Hutchinson seized all the momentum. The Blue Dragons outscored Cloud County 51-33 in the second-half, with both teams emerging from the locker room looking completely different.

For Hutchinson, sophomore guard Jaquez Thornton took over the game, scoring 21 of his game-high 27 points over the final 20 minutes, including connecting on 3-of-4 shots from three-point range.

Hutchinson went on multiple scoring runs, pulling back to within a single possession four different times before tying the game at 52-all on a free-throw by Thornton with 9:51 to play.

Cloud County's Fallou Koite followed with a three-pointer to keep the T-Birds in front.

Hutchinson tied the game two more times before grabbing its first lead of the game at 62-60 on a layup by Isaiah Jackson with seven minutes remaining. Jackson had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Khalil Arnold was a bright spot for Hutchinson, finishing the day with 18 points, including scoring 11 points in the second-half. The Blue Dragons shot 56.7 percent from the field and made 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from behind the arc over the final 20 minutes, after previously connecting on only one three-pointer in the first-half of play. Hutchinson also went 10-of-15 from the foul line in the second-half, including 5-of-10 over the final seven minutes, to pick up the victory.

The T-Birds were outrebounded 19-12 in the second-half, and were outscored 22-7 in points off the bench for the game. Cloud County shot 48.3 percent from the floor and 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from long-range. The T-Birds were also 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) from the free-throw line. 

Garrett-Miller paced three T-Birds in double-figures with 20 points, four assists and three rebounds. Savane collected his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Garber poured in three shots from behind the arc to finish with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. Akot tallied nine points, seven rebounds and three assists. Koite and freshman Syncere Burnette had five points each. Burnette also had a team-high three steals. Freshman Amare Johnson scored two points.

Cloud County will now take an extended break before returning to action on Saturday, January 4 when they travel to Garden City, Kansas to face the Garden City Broncbusters (7-6, 2-5) at 4 pm in a conference game.