Men's Basketball | 3/4/2026 11:55:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team fell 84-78 to Independence Community College in their final Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) game of the 2025-2026 regular season on Wednesday, March 4.

Despite the loss, the T-Birds (17-13, 12-12 KJCCC) have locked up the No. 8 seed and will host a first-round NJCAA Region 6 Men's Division I Basketball Tournament game, hosting Garden City Community College (17-13, 12-12 KJCCC) for the second time in a 10 day span on Saturday, March 7 at 2 pm.

Cloud County scored the first three points of the game but soon found themselves down by nine points at 14-5 at the 15:46 mark of the first-half. Cloud County used an 8-0 run capped off by a traditional three-point play from sophomore Samuel Akot to trim the deficit to one point at 14-13 with 12:06 to play. But Independence never lost the lead. The Pirates responded with a 15-5 run that saw them grab a double-digit lead at 29-18 on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Xavier Miller. Independence led by as many as 13 points in the opening half and would go into the intermission on top, 44-34.

A dunk by Cloud County redshirt freshman Manasseh Stackhouse made it a 51-46 game with 15:39 remaining. Independence then used a 16-7 run capped off by another Miller three-pointer to take a 67-53 lead with 10:05 to play. The Pirates maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way until Cloud County scored five points in the final 12 seconds to make a it a six point game at 84-78.

Cloud County shot 27-of-66 (40.9 percent) from the field, 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from behind the arc and 20-of-37 (54.1 percent) from the free-throw line. The T-Birds were outrebounded 42-38, despite holding a 15-11 edge in offensive rebounds.

Stackhouse led Cloud County with 18 points and 13 rebounds for his seventh double-double performance of the season. Freshman guard Kam Williams added 16 points, while freshman guard Kaidan Chatham finished with 13 points.

Cloud County will return to the court Saturday, March 7 when they host Garden City Community College in the opening round of the 2026 NJCAA Region 6 Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The T-Birds swept the Broncbusters during the regular season, winning 87-85 at Garden City on January 10, 2026, and 91-85 in Concordia on February 25, 2026. Tip-off is set for 2 pm inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium.