Cloud County Men Drop Regular Season Finale at Northwest Kansas Tech, 80-75
A strong shooting night that saw the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team finish with a 52.5 percent field goal percentage was not enough to overcome a 23-7 deficit at the free throw line as the T-Birds fell 80-75 to Northwest Kansas Technical College inside Max Jones Fieldhouse in Goodland, Kansas on Wednesday, March 6th.
Finishing the regular season with a 20-10 overall record, Cloud County ends Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play with a 15-9 record while Northwest Tech will enter postseason play having won their four past four contests and six of their past seven while improving to 15-15 overall and 11-13 in the KJCCC.
In a game that saw neither team hold a lead of more than seven points, both teams went back-and-forth in the opening minutes to trade the lead with six lead changes in the opening six minutes as part of a 12-11 Cloud County advantage with 14:01 left in the first half. Two more lead changes over the next two minutes of play saw an Isaiah Sy triple give CCCC a 15-13 lead that grew to four on three different occasions before the midway point of the opening period and eventually six on a Cheikh Sow steal and dunk. Northwest Tech managed to keep within striking distance by not letting the deficit get any larger than seven with 7:20 left in the first half as an 8-0 run completely erased the deficit and put the Mavericks up 29-28 only to give the lead back up on a Ja'ron Briggs Jr. offensive rebound and put back with 3:53 left before halftime. The lead went from one back up to seven for the T-Birds with an 8-0 run of their own as a response to go up 37-30 with 1:18 left in the half with a pair of NWKT free throws ending the scoring in the first half to put things at 37-32 in favor of the T-Birds.
Matching their seven-point lead on two of their first three offensive possessions in the second half, Cloud County managed to hold their lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the second period despite seeing Northwest Tech gradually cut into the deficit to pull within one on a Charles Fofanah three with 11:19 left in the game. Finding ways to keep the Mavericks from pulling even, CCCC continued to have answers on the offensive end to keep Northwest Tech from gaining momentum until a game-tying layup by Keyishon Miller with 7:31 left that knotted things at 60-60. The Mavericks took their first lead of the second half just 29 seconds later before giving up a 7-0 T-Bird run that allowed Cloud County to go back up five at 67-62 as the game was becoming a back-and-forth string of runs.
Nearly matching their largest lead of the game on a Roy Aviv layup to go up 69-63 with 4:31 left, CCCC followed by enduring a two-plus minute scoring drought that allowed Northwest Tech to get back within one at 69-68 with the final 2:38 of the contest setting up to be a nail-biter. Extending their lead to three on a Briggs Jr. layup, Cloud County saw NWKT get a free throw on their next offensive possession before managing to tie things up with 1:26 left as an offensive rebound and layup brought things even at 71-71. Following a T-Bird turnover, the Mavericks found an open Fofanah who hit his seventh and final three of the game to put Northwest Tech up 74-71 with 47 seconds left. After a missed Cloud County three-point attempt, the T-Birds were forced to foul as the Mavericks went perfect at the line to make it a two-possession game with time becoming the biggest factor against CCCC. Following a quick dunk from Briggs Jr., Cloud County once again was in a must-foul situation and saw the Mavericks continue to ice the game away at the line by hitting their final six free throws of the game to never allow CCCC a chance to tie things in the final seconds.
Free throw attempts was by and large the biggest discrepancy in the final stats as Northwest Tech shot 32 total free throws, making 23 (71.9 percent) compared to just nine total attempts for Cloud County with seven makes (77.8 percent). CCCC outshot the Mavericks after going 31-of-59 (52.5 percent) from the field and six-of-14 (42.9 percent) from three while seeing NWKT go 24-for-54 (44.4 percent) from the floor and nine-of-17 (52.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Rebounding was a slim 29-26 advantage for Cloud County as was a 48-22 advantage in points in the paint while Northwest Tech held a 7-4 advantage in second-chance points and an 18-13 advantage in bench points.
Leading Cloud County with 19 points on nine-of-14 shooting was Sow to go along with five rebounds and four steals while Briggs Jr. scored 17 points and hauled in six rebounds. Also reaching double-figures was Sy with 13 points with no other T-Bird scoring more than eight points in the game. Northwest Tech got a game-high 29 from Fofanah while Miller added 22 with the pair accounting for 51 of the 80 Maverick points.
What's Next?
Wednesday's loss does not affect Cloud County's seeding in the upcoming NJCAA Region VI Tournament as the T-Birds entered the evening locked into the number-five seed in the tournament which will begin on Saturday afternoon. CCCC will play host to a to-be-determined opponent, with the official seedings and bracket set to be released either later on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Cloud County's game on Saturday will be a 4 PM tip-off from Arley Bryant Gymnasium, with the winner of the game getting a chance to take on Butler Community College in El Dorado on Tuesday, March 12th.