Men's Basketball | 3/11/2025 9:14:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team fell to No. 14 Barton Community College, 100-87, on Tuesday, March 11 in the 2025 Region 6 Tournament quarterfinals in Great Bend, Kansas. The T-Birds finish their first season under head coach Kyle Pugh at 14-18 overall.

The T-Birds are 2-5 against Barton all-time in the Region 6 Tournament. The Cougars, the defending NJCAA Men's Basketball Champions, are 24-7 overall and will advance to the Region 6 Tournament semifinals to play Coffeyville on Friday, March 14 at 7:30 pm at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays, Kansas.

The Cougars led wire-to-wire. Barton captured its first double-digit advantage of the ballgame at 21-11 on a layup by redshirt sophomore Fontaine Williams at the 12:58 mark of the first-half. A jumper by sophomore Keandre Kindell followed, giving the Cougars an early 12 point advantage. Cloud County quickly responded with a 12-3 run, capped by a layup by freshman guard Dejuan Graise, to cut the deficit to three points at 26-23 midway through the first-half. Graise and freshman guard Amare Johnson both poured in three-pointers during this stretch. Kindell answered by scoring eight points in a 12-4 run for the Cougars, helping to push their lead back out to double-digits at 38-27 with 5:52 to go before halftime. A three-pointer by Eltramon Smith, Jr. gave Barton its biggest lead of the half at 14 points, 43-29, at the 4:44 mark. Cloud County freshman guard Syncere Burnette scored 10 points over the final four minutes and 15 seconds of the opening half, but Barton was able to match the T-Birds basket-for-basket, taking a 54-40 lead into the locker room.

The Cougars shot 64.5 percent from the floor in the first-half with five made three-pointers.

After falling behind by 15 points early in the second-half, Cloud County stormed back, trimming Barton's lead down to seven points following back-to-back three-pointers by Burnette with 15:50 remaining. Four straight points by sophomore guard Brent Moss extended Barton's lead to 11. Cloud County sophomore Fallou Koite buried a three-pointer before making a pair of free-throws to pull the T-Birds to within six points at 67-61 with 12:37 to play. Barton continued to find answers, piecing together an 11-4 run to lead 78-65 at the 9:36 mark of the second-half. Burnette kept the T-Birds within reach, scoring nine points in a 12-5 run for Cloud County, narrowing Barton's lead to six points at 83-77 with just over six minutes remaining. The Cougars finished the game strong, assembling a 12-2 run of their own over the next three and a half minutes to go up 95-79 with 2:40 to play. Barton effectively broke Cloud County's late-game full-court pressure for a couple of easy transition baskets on their way to becoming the first team to score 100 points or more against the T-Birds since Cowley College scored 120 points on March 31, 2021.

Burnette scored a season-high 31 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including a 6-of-12 performance from behind the arc, to lead the way for Cloud County. Freshman forward Elidjah Savane recorded his 13th double-double performance of the season, netting 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and pulling down a team-high 13 rebounds. Graise added a season-high 12 points off the bench.

Cloud County finished the game shooting 33-of-71 (46.5 percent) from the field. The T-Birds poured in 12 three-pointers, with Graise and Johnson each finishing with two. Cloud County was 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) from the free-throw line.

In contrast, Barton shot 34-of-68 (50.0 percent) from the floor and 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from long-distance. The Cougars also connected on 22-of-30 (73.3 percent) from the foul line.

Six players reached double-figures for Barton, led by Brent Moss' double-double performance with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Kindell also had a double-double with 23 points and 10 assists. Williams tallied 15 points. Smith, Jr. contributed a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Aris Rodriguez chipped in 12 points, while Sebastian Muchitsch added 10.