Men's Basketball | 3/7/2025 4:46:00 PM

The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team opens 2025 Region 6 Men's Basketball Tournament play with a road game against the Colby Trojans on Saturday, March 8 at 2 pm inside the Colby Event Center.

The T-Birds (13-17), the No. 11 seed in the tournament, have won two straight after knocking off Butler at home, 86-83 on March 1, before taking down Pratt on a buzzer beater on the road, 80-79, on March 5. Colby (17-13) is the No. 6 seed after they dispatched Fort Hays Tech Northwest, 81-69, in their final regular season game on March 1.

Last year, Cloud County beat Colby at home in the opening round of the Region 6 Tournament, 79-54. The T-Birds shot 60.8 percent from the field, outscored Colby 54-16 in points in the paint, and outrebounded the Trojans by a 39-22 margin.

This year, Colby enters the tournament after winning both of its regular season matchups with Cloud County. The T-Birds fell behind by as many as 21 points before mounting a second-half comeback, outscoring Colby 49-37 over the final 20 minutes of play, before suffering a 73-66 road loss to the Trojans on December 4. The T-Birds ended up shooting 53.1 percent from the field in the second-half, including 50.0 percent from three-point range, to go along with a 10-of-11 (90.9 percent) showing from the free-throw line, but their comeback fell short. Freshman guard Kuel Akot led the way for Cloud County with a game-high 18 points with three made triples. Redshirt freshman Keyon Garrett-Miller chipped in 16 points with two assists and two steals. Freshman forward Elidjah Savane added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while freshman Amare Johnson added seven points in just over 14 minutes of play.

in their second meeting of the season on February 5, Cloud County raced out to an 11 point first-half lead before the Trojans outscored the T-Birds 43-23 in the second-half on their way to a 77-64 win in Concordia. In the second-half, the T-Birds were limited to just eight field goals and 25.8 percent shooting, while they were also outrebounded by Colby 26-16 over the final 20 minutes of play. Savane led three T-Birds in double-figures with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Savane also added 11 rebounds, nine on the defensive end. Freshman guard Syncere Burnette recorded 14 points, five steals and four assists. Sophomore guard Fallou Koite contributed 14 points and three rebounds.

The winner will advance to the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 11 to face No. 3-seed Barton Community College at 7 pm in Great Bend, Kansas.