Cloud County Men Close Out Non-Conference Play with Road Loss to #12 Indian Hills Community College
A 10-2 run by host and number 12 nationally ranked Indian Hills Community College over the first four minutes of the second half saw what was a 10-point first-half lead for the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team erased as the T-Birds faded late in a 76-63 road loss inside the Hellyer Center in Ottumwa, Iowa on Saturday, December 30th.
The loss drops Cloud County to 9-4 overall and is their lone loss of the six-game non-conference portion of their schedule while the host Warriors improve to 11-3 overall with all three losses coming to teams currently ranked in the top six of the latest NJCAA Division I Top-25 Poll. Of Cloud County's four losses, three of the four have come to ranked opponents with six more games currently scheduled against teams that are currently ranked.
A turnover followed by a second-chance offensive opportunity for Indian Hills in their opening possession of the game led to an open triple for Braden Sparks as IHCC connected on made treys in each of their first two offensive chances to go up 6-0 just 53 seconds into the game to force a quick Cloud County timeout. Following the timeout, neither team would be able to do much offensively as the ensuing 3:14 of the contest went scoreless before a layup from Abdoulaye Fall with 15:50 left in the first half to finally get the T-Birds on the board. Forcing a quick turnover, Cloud County cut the deficit again with a made layup from Emmanuel Manyuon before a pair of free throws by Fall on the next offensive possession to tie the game at 6-6 as Cloud County put together a 13-0 run that lasted until the 10:15 mark of the first half to grab a seven-point lead while holding Indian Hills scoreless for nearly nine minutes of play.
Another made three for Indian Hills ended the CCCC run but was quickly countered by a made three from Ja'ron Briggs Jr. as the T-Birds added to their lead to double up the Warriors at 18-9 with just over nine minutes left before halftime. The advantage for Cloud County stayed between seven and nine points over the next four-plus minutes of play until a defensive rebound by Fall that led to a made layup on the CCCC offensive end of the floor to put the T-Birds up 27-17 with their largest lead of the contest. The lead was matched two minutes later with 2:33 left in the half as Manyuon forced an IHCC turnover that turned into a fast break layup to put Cloud County up 29-19. A quick response from Indian Hills saw the fifth and final three of the opening period by the Warriors drop the deficit back to single-digits before allowing CCCC to score four of the next five to push their lead to 10 one final time at 33-23. The final 1:08 of the first half then saw Indian Hills score the final five points of the period with three made free throws and an offensive putback with two seconds left to cut the deficit in half and make it a 33-28 Cloud County lead heading into halftime.
Adding to their run that ended the first half, Indian Hills scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half on their way to grabbing their first lead since the 14:18 mark of the first half by going up 36-35 with 17:28 left in the game. Closing out what became a 10-2 run to open the half with a pair of TJ Morris free throws, the Warriors saw a response from Cloud County come in the form of a Briggs Jr. jumper in the paint and made three from Ian Lavalaye to put the T-Birds back out in front by a 40-38 advantage. Things became tied back up at 40-40 with 14:58 left in the second half as Indian Hills went on another 8-2 run with back-to-back Kheni Briggs threes putting IHCC up 46-43 just over a minute later. Cloud County responded with a layup from Manyuon to cut the deficit down to one before seeing the Warriors reel off nine of the next 12 points to push their lead to seven in what was the largest IHCC lead up to that point.
Keeping things close with a made three by Manyuon with 9:23 left in the game, Cloud County continued to stay within striking distance over the next 1:31 until Briggs again connected on back-to-back three-point attempts for Indian Hills to extend the lead to double-digits at 63-53. With momentum having shifted once again in favor of the host Warriors, CCCC saw the deficit grow to 12 as the T-Birds never could get the game back within single digits over the final six-and-a-half minutes of game action with IHCC managing to keep Cloud County from ever making a legitimate threat at posting a potential comeback.
Despite outshooting Indian Hills in the contest, Cloud County saw IHCC go seven-for-10 (70.0 percent) from three in the second half to finish the game with a 50.0 percent (12-of-24) performance from beyond the arc to outscore CCCC 36-18 from three and 16-9 at the charity stripe. After outrebounding the Warriors 19-16 in the first half, Cloud County was limited to just 10 second-half rebounds to see a 44-29 deficit on the boards allow Indian Hills to hold a 26-6 advantage in second-chance points. For the game, the T-Birds shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field and scored 34 of their 63 points in the paint.
15-point outings from both Fall and Briggs Jr. led Cloud County offensively with Briggs Jr. adding four assists and Fall having five rebounds. Manyuon pitched in 12 points while Lavalaye had 10 points off the bench with a two-of-three effort from three accounting for six of his points. Cheikh Sow (six) and Isaiah Sy (five) were the only other players for CCCC to find the scoring column with just 15 total bench points being scored by the T-Birds. Indian Hills was led by an 18-point effort from Briggs who saw all 18 of his points come from three while Morris added 15 to be the only other Warrior to reach double-figures.
What's Next?
The final 17 games of the regular season will come inside the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference with KJCCC play resuming for Cloud County on Wednesday, January 3rd with an 8 PM home contest against Independence Community College. Of the 17 games, eight will come at home as the first five games will come against foes that CCCC has yet to play this season before the second round of the double-round-robin conference schedule. Independence is 1-11 overall and 0-6 in the KJCCC this season and has lost their last 11 games with their last contest coming on December 9th with a 78-74 home loss to Pratt.