Men's Basketball | 1/23/2025 1:26:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team opened the second half of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play with a 76-66 road loss to Seward County Community College on Wednesday, January 22.

The loss drops the T-Birds to 10-9 overall and 4-9 in conference action, while the Saints have improved to 3-15 overall and 2-11 in conference play.

Four players finished in double-figures for Cloud County, led by freshman forward Elidjah Savane with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double on the year. Savane has posted double-doubles in three consecutive games and five of the last six contests for the T-Birds. Freshmen guards Syncere Burnette and Kuel Akot contributed 14 points each with both drilling four three-pointers on the night. Burnette also had a game-high five assists. Sophomore Fallou Koite added three treys of his own to finish with 13 points and five rebounds.

As a team, Cloud County shot 23-of-56 (41.1 percent) from the field and 13-of-26 (50.0 percent) from three-point range. The 13 made three-pointers is the most for Cloud County as a team since connecting on 16 shots from deep in a 101-90 win at Dodge City on November 23, 2024.

Meanwhile, Seward County shot 28-of-50 (56.0 percent) from the floor and 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from behind the arc. The Saints outscored the T-Birds 38-20 in points in the paint and 17-7 in points off turnovers.

Both teams came out energized and ready to compete. Seward County jumped out to an early 14-8 advantage. Cloud County began to find a rhythm, pulling ahead at 26-24 following a three-pointer by Koite and a steal and layup by Akot. Akot then added a triple to help the T-Birds claim its largest lead of the game at five points with 5:48 remaining in the first half. Seward County answered with an 8-2 surge, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore guard Carson Bennett, to retake the lead at 32-31 with 3:01 to play. Cloud County closed out the half on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers by Burnette, to take a 39-34 lead into the intermission.

The T-Birds ended the first half shooting 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from deep.

However, the Saints came out of the break swinging. Seward County opened the second half on a 12-5 run, capturing the lead again at 46-44 with 14:19 to play following an offensive putback by sophomore Benni Kazadi. Cloud County rallied, tying the game at 56-all on a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Matthew Garber with 8:42 remaining. Garber went 2-of-6 from downtown to finish with six points on the night. Seward County responded by scoring the next eight points, restoring their lead for good. Throughout the second half, the Saints outscored the T-Birds by a 42-27 margin.

Cloud County is back at home on Saturday, January 25 when they will face off with the Dodge City Conquistadors for a 4 pm tip. Dodge City enters the weekend matchup having lost three straight conference games, including a 72-70 home loss to Garden City on January 22.