Men's Basketball | 1/16/2025 1:08:00 AM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team lost its seventh game in a row on Wednesday, January 15, dropping an 89-70 loss on the road against No. 11 Butler Community College in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play.

Three players finished in double-figures for the T-Birds in the loss.

Freshman guard Syncere Burnette recorded a team-high 15 points after connecting on 4-of-6 shots from three-point range to go along with a season-high eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Freshman forward Elidjah Savane tallied his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Fallou Koite was strong off the bench, scoring 11 points after going 3-of-6 from behind the arc. Koite also had two steals in 14 minutes of playing time.

The T-Birds scored the first fve points of the game but fell behind by double-digits at 22-11 when Butler redshirt freshman AJ Pierre-Jerome scored on a traditional three-point play with 13:32 remaining in the first-half. The Grizzlies led by as many as 15 points in the opening half after shooting 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from long-range and connecting on six more shots than the T-Birds from the free-throw line. Cloud County assembled a 12-2 run to cut Butler's lead to five points at 39-34 at the under four media timeout. The Grizzlies, though, maintained control and led 52-43 at the intermission.

Butler added to its advantage by going up 65-45 on a made three-pointer by freshman guard Rasha McCormick at the 15:22 mark of the second half. Cloud County fought back to make it a ten point game at 65-55 following a free-throw by redshirt freshman Keyon Garrett-Miller.

After Butler sophomore guard Jojo Adeoye scored on a layup, T-Birds sophomore guard Roy Aviv buried back-to-back three-pointers to make it a six point game at 67-61 with 11:01 remaining.

The Grizzlies responded with a 20-5 run over the next eight minutes that saw sophomore guard Bubba Leavell knock down two treys during that stretch while sophomore guard Russell Branch added one of his own to extend Butler's lead to 87-66 with 2:50 to play. The 21 point lead marked the biggest advantage of the game for the Grizzlies, who have improved to 14-3 overall and 5-3 in KJCCC play with the victory.

Butler finished the game 26-of-65 (40.0 percent) from the field and 15-of-30 (50.0 percent) from three-point range, led by Leavell's six made three-pointers. Leavell led three Grizzlies in double-figures with 20 points.

Cloud County shot 23-of-70 (32.9 percent) overall and 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) from behind the arc. The T-Birds also made just 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) from the free-throw line.

The T-Birds continue Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference competition on Saturday, January 18 when they play Pratt Community College in Arley Bryant Gymnasium. The game is scheduled for a 4 pm tipoff.