Men's Basketball | 11/22/2025 9:41:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team concluded a four-game homestand with a narrow 78-76 setback Saturday, November 22 to No. 17 Barton Community College in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) play.

The T-Birds saw its five-game winning streak end despite leading by eight points with just over five minutes to go. Redshirt freshman Manasseh Stackhouse led the team with 16 points and nine rebounds in the defeat.

The Cougars held Cloud County to two field-goals over the final five minutes, including forcing six straight misses from behind the arc. Barton pulled to within one point at 74-73 on a traditional three-point play by freshman guard Jayden Ramirez with 1:22 remaining. Less than a minute later, sophomore forward Sebastian Muchitsch recorded an offensive rebound off a Ramirez miss and was fouled. Muchitsch connected on both free-throws to give Barton a one-point edge at 75-74 with 28 seconds to go, marking Barton's first lead since the 15:03 mark of the first-half. 

Ramirez added a pair of free-throws while redshirt freshman Blake Rucker added a foul shot of his own in the closing seconds to give the Cougars the win. Ramirez and sophomore Aris Rodriguez led the way with 19 points each. Muchitsch and redshirt freshman Noah Williams added 14 points apiece.

Cloud County led by as many as eight points at three separate intervals in the second-half. A three-pointer by Stackhouse first put the T-Birds ahead at 52-44 at the 13:05 mark. Barton sparked a 6-0 run to trail by two points at 52-50 before Cloud County once again answered with a layup by sophomore DJ Holloway and a trey by sophomore Kuel Akot to give the T-Birds a five point lead with 10:40 to play.

A basket in the paint by Rodriguez and a pair of free-throws by Rucker cut the deficit to three points before the T-Birds used a 14-9 burst to build its advantage to eight points again at 69-61 following two free-throws by sophomore Samuel Akot.

Rodriguez brought Barton back to within six points following a basket in the paint, but the T-Birds extended their lead back to eight points on an offensive rebound and tip-in by freshman Al Brooks Jr. with 5:18 remaining.

A three-pointer by Rucker on the ensuing possession sparked the late-scoring run for Barton.

The Cougars ended the game shooting 24-of-59 (40.7 percent) from the field and 26-of-38 (68.4 percent) from the free-throw line. Cloud County finished the contest 27-of-74 (36.5 percent) from the floor and 17-of-29 (58.6 percent) from the foul line. Both team's shot 20.0 percent from behind the arc, with Cloud County ending up with five made three-pointers to Barton's four.

Stackhouse had 16 points on a 6-of-11 clip, adding nine rebounds and one blocked shot. Freshman D'ontez Walker scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting with six rebounds before fouling out. Sophomore guard Syncere Burnette recorded 13 points and eight rebounds. Kuel Akot notched 10 points off the bench before fouling out. Sophomore Elidjah Savane totaled eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Brooks had seven points and seven rebounds, while Samuel Akot added six points.

Cloud County pulled down 54 rebounds to Barton's 35 as the T-Birds notched a 16-11 edge in second-chance points and a 24-11 advantage in bench points.

The T-Birds next will travel to Arkansas City, Kansas to face No. 10 Cowley College in KJCCC action on Tuesday, November 25 at 7:30 pm. After starting the season 5-0, the Cowley College Tigers have dropped back-to-back games following a 71-64 home loss to Murray State College on November 18 and a 78-75 road loss to Dodge City Community College in KJCCC play on November 22.