Cloud County Men End Year with Road Region VI Tournament Loss to Butler Community College
A 20-9 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half fizzled away throughout the remainder of the half as the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team trailed 37-33 at the half and never led in the second half in a 77-69 road defeat to Butler Community College in the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Tournament quarterfinal round inside the Power Plant in El Dorado, Kansas on Tuesday, March 12th.
Ending their season with a 21-11 overall record, Cloud County sees their season conclude for the second straight year in the NJCAA Region VI Tournament quarterfinals while making another five-game improvement in the win column over last year under third-year head coach Devin Kastrup. Butler advances to the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Tournament semifinal round after snapping a three-game losing streak and will take on top-ranked Barton Community College at 3 PM on Friday inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson after improving to 23-8 overall.
Scoring five of the first seven points of the game with sophomore Cheikh Sow hitting an open triple before going on to make a pair of free throws on the next T-Bird offensive possession, CCCC jumped out to a 12-4 lead on another Sow trey with 14:44 left in the first half. After giving up a layup to the Grizzlies, Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. hit a three to respond as Cloud County went on an 8-3 run to give the T-Birds their largest lead of the game at 20-9. The double-digit lead for Cloud County remained over the next two minutes of action before four straight points from Butler cut the lead down to six before answering with an Abdoulaye Fall layup to go back up eight with just over seven minutes remaining. CCCC then endured a scoring drought of nearly two minutes as BCCC scored the next four points of the game at the free-throw line before getting an Amare Haynie triple to get within one and eventually reclaimed the lead at 29-28 with 4:54 left in the first half. Down the final stretch of the opening period, Cloud County was held to just two made field goals with both coming on layups by Briggs Jr. with the Grizzlies outscoring the T-Birds 8-5 to grab a four-point lead with the final four points of the half breaking a 33-33 tie.
Determined to pull back even, CCCC opened the scoring in the second half with a made Sow field goal before getting back to within a point at 41-40 as Kyle McElroy drew a foul with 17:11 left in the game and connected on a pair of free throws. After nearly two and a half minutes with neither team scoring, Butler broke the drought for both teams with a made Khalil Arnold trey before forcing a T-Bird turnover and getting a layup to go back up six just to see Briggs Jr. bring CCCC back within a possession with a made three on the other end of the floor. CCCC managed to keep within five over the next three-plus minutes of action with the T-Birds pulling back within two on a made Isaiah Sy three before giving up an 8-2 run that put BCCC back up eight at 56-48 with just under nine minutes left in the game.
Continuing to keep within striking distance, Cloud County got back within three after a steal and fast break layup from Fall at the eight-minute mark before allowing the Grizzlies to score the next four points of the game as part of a 6-2 spurt that put Butler back up 62-55 heading into the final five minutes of the contest. A timely three from sophomore Cav Carlgren allowed CCCC to stay within four at 62-58 until a 7-2 run by the Grizzlies that extended the lead out to nine at 69-60 with 2:36 remaining as foul trouble and time were starting to become an issue for the T-Birds. One last push from Cloud County saw the T-Birds score five-straight points capped off by a Sow three-point play with 1:15 remaining to still have a chance down four but a corner three from Butler's Jaquez Thornton proved to be the final dagger on the season for CCCC as the T-Birds only got within four one more time in the final minute while seeing BCCC hit five of their final seven free throws to ice the game away.
Turnovers weren't necessarily an issue for Cloud County in the game as the T-Birds committed 10 turnovers compared to 15 by Butler but rather an off-shooting game as CCCC went 20-of-55 (36.4 percent) from the field and nine-of-28 (32.1 percent) from three while seeing Butler finish with a 48.9 percent (22-of-45) field goal percentage. The Grizzlies also shot six-of-14 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc and went 27-of-32 (84.4 percent) from the free throw line compared to a 20-of-27 (74.1 percent) outing from the T-Birds as the Grizzlies held a 32-22 advantage in points in the paint and 11-6 advantage in fast break points.
Individually, Cloud County got a team-best 18 points from Sow in his final game in a T-Bird uniform while Briggs Jr. added 14 points to finish as the only two players for CCCC in double-figures. McElroy scored eight points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as the T-Birds were outrebounded 33-28 in the contest. Thornton scored a game-high 22 for Butler and grabbed four rebounds while Charles McClennahan Jr. added 17 for Butler to finish as the only two Grizzlies to finish in double-figures.