Men's Basketball | 1/25/2025 9:06:00 PM

Box Score It came down to the final shot, but the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team was unable to take down the visiting Dodge City Conquistadors, falling at the final buzzer by a score of 86-85 at Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, January 25.

Cloud County received key performances out of freshman forward Elidjah Savane and freshman guard Syncere Burnette. Savane battled all game with the Dodge City bigs to record his tenth double-double of the year by matching his season-high with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Savane has recorded four straight double-double games. Burnette notched a career-high with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting with six three-pointers to go with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Redshirt freshman Matthew Garber also made big plays for the T-Birds throughout the contest, finishing with 14 points with four made three-pointers and five rebounds.

Freshman guard Mynor Strong had a huge night for Dodge City with 21 points and six rebounds. Freshman Derrick Rivers had 17 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Jayse Boatwright chipped in 13 points. Sophomore Jamari Gamble added 12 points and four rebounds, while sophomore Keshawn Brown Jr. had 11 points and four rebounds.

Cloud County shot 30-of-62 (48.4 percent) from the field, including a dazzling 58.1 percent from the floor in the opening half. The T-Birds connected on eight three-pointers through the first 20 minutes of play, grabbing a 14-point advantage at 49-35 on a Burnette trey with less than a minute to go before halftime. Rivers drilled a jumper in the paint to cut the deficit to 12 points at halftime.

The second half started with a big 15-1 run for the Conquistadors, with Dodge City capturing the lead at 52-50 on a three-pointer by Gamble with 14:58 to go. A pair of three-pointers by Burnette and a triple by freshman Dejuan Graise allowed the T-Birds to grab a double-digit lead again at 71-61 with 7:28 left to play. Another second-half trey from Burnette gave Cloud County its biggest lead of the second half, 81-67, with 4:08 remaining.

Dodge City answered with a huge 13-2 run in less than three minutes to bring the game back to a single possession at 83-80 following an offensive rebound and tip in by Brown Jr.

After Savane went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, Boatwright scored in the paint to whittle Cloud County's lead down to 84-82 with 23 seconds to play.

Burnette also went 1-of-2 from the foul line, giving the T-Birds a three-point edge.

On the ensuing possession, Rivers splashed a three-pointer while drawing a foul to tie the game at 85-all. Rivers connected on the go-ahead free-throw with seven seconds left, securing the win for the Conquistadors.

Cloud County connected on 13 shots from deep and ended the game shooting 43.3 percent from behind the arc. But the T-Birds were outrebounded 47-37, with the Conquistadors outscoring Cloud County 19-7 in second-chance points and 46-28 in points in the paint, and Cloud County turned the ball over 19 times leading to 21 points off turnovers for Dodge City. Dodge City's bench also outscored Cloud County by a 34-10 margin.

Cloud County has now slipped to 10-10 on the year and 4-10 in KJCCC play. Next up, the T-Birds hit the road again for a conference game at Barton Community College on Wednesday, January 29 at 7:30 pm.