Cloud County Men Fade Late in 82-73 Home Loss to #19 Hutchinson

Cutting a four-point deficit down to just one on three separate occasions in the second half, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team never would be able to completely close the gap against 19th-ranked Hutchinson Community College before fading late in what would become an 82-73 home defeat inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, December 6th.

Dropping a second-straight game to fall to 8-3 overall, Cloud County is now 3-3 overall in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Blue Dragons remain unbeaten in conference play at 5-0 while improving to 10-1 overall on the season.

Initially played at a pace that would be more to the style of CCCC, Hutchinson would push the issue throughout the night to speed up the game and end up doing so in an opening 10 minutes that would see the score sit at 17-13 in favor of Cloud County would start to turn over the final 10 minutes of opening half. Following a Ja'ron Briggs Jr. free throw that would give the T-Birds their second-largest lead of the night at four, Hutchinson would get an offensive rebound and dunk to pull within two before a pair of Dadrevius Weathers free throws to tie things at 17-17 as the first half would see 10 lead changes and three ties. Cloud County would respond by reclaiming the lead on an Isaiah Sy triple to go up 20-17 but quickly see the Blue Dragons respond with a tip-in on a missed shot before getting a layup to go up 21-20 with 7:12 left before halftime. The mix of both crashing the offensive glass and defensive pressure off of made baskets would continue to benefit HCC as the lead would be traded twice more before seeing Hutchinson start build a lead with the Blue Dragons going up 28-23 with 4:37 left in the half to force a Cloud County timeout.

Out of the timeout, Cloud County would get Sy's third three of the first half after seeing the freshman go seven-for-10 on Saturday at Dodge City and score a career-high 25 as shooting from beyond the arc would allow the T-Birds to keep within striking distance. The lead for Hutchinson would be pushed back out to five with just over three minutes remaining before seeing CCCC get a pair of Cheikh Sow free throws to get back within a possession as Cloud County would use a 6-0 run to take their final lead of the night on a made Emmanuel Manyuon layup with 1:17 left in the first half. After allowing back-to-back dunks on offensive possession by Hutchinson, the T-Birds would look to have a chance at the final possession and head into the locker with a worst-case three-point deficit until a late turnover in the final seconds would lead to a foul and one made Blue Dragon free throw to end the half with Hutchinson leading 36-32.

Forcing a turnover to begin the second half before an empty offensive possession, Cloud County would see the four-point halftime deficit grow to seven on a made HCC triple before starting to claw their way back as the T-Birds would not let the deficit grow any more over the first five minutes of the second half. Trailing 48-42 with 15:54 remaining, CCCC would get a made Kyle McElroy layup before a Sow three-point play that would bring the T-Birds within a point at 48-47 as the home crowd would begin to sense the momentum shifting. Trading buckets on ensuing possessions, Cloud County would see the Blue Dragons get a layup to go back up three before calling a timeout to reset their defense and not allow the T-Birds a quick inbounds to break the full-court pressure that was being applied by HCC. The timeout would prove useful as Hutchinson would get a defensive stop before going on to add to their lead over the next two-plus minutes of game time with things stretching back out to a six-point game at 55-49 with just over 12 minutes remaining.

Another push by Cloud County would bring CCCC back with a pair of Manyuon free throws and a three-point basket by Sy once again cutting the deficit back down to one as the T-Birds would refuse to go away quietly on their home floor. Following the transition trey by Sy, Hutchinson would get a three-point play of their own down in the paint and start an 11-2 run that would push things to a double-digit lead for the first time all game at 66-56 as the T-Birds would start to see having to play from behind catch up to them. The deficit for Cloud County would continue to grow before a 5-0 spurt from Cloud County that would cut a 12-point deficit down to seven with just over five minutes remaining as there would still be time for CCCC to mount a potential comeback. Unfortunately for Cloud County, Hutchinson would manage to work their way to the free throw line and find buckets in the paint as the T-Birds would get no closer than seven the rest of the way with Hutchinson doing just enough to keep CCCC from ever mounting a serious attempt at a comeback.

Points off turnovers would be one of the biggest issues of the night for Cloud County as Hutchinson would hold a 21-14 advantage in the category to offset a 44-38 rebounding advantage for the T-Birds with both teams getting 15 points from their bench and nearly matching each other in both second-chance points (14-13 Cloud County) and fast-break points (11-100 Cloud County). CCCC would shoot 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the floor and seven-of-15 (46.7 percent) from beyond the arc while going 22-for-31 (71.0 percent) from the charity stripe while seeing similar outputs for the Blue Dragons (28-for-61 from the field, six-of-16 from three, and 20-of-33 from the free-throw line).

Four different T-Birds would score at least 12 points each in what would be a rather balanced offensive night with Manyuon scoring a team-high 18 points on six-of-10 shooting in his first career start. Both Sow and Sy would finish with 15 points each as Sow would wind up one rebound shy of a double-double with Abdoulaye Fall scoring 12 points and adding four steals and four rebounds. Hutchinson had two players reach the 20-point mark and were led by 21 points and 13 rebounds from Valentino Simon who also added four assists in 29 minutes of action.

What's Next?
A chance to turn things back in the right direction heading into an extended holiday break will see Cloud County hit the road for the first of two road games on Sunday, December 10th with a trip to Colby for a 4 PM matchup with the Trojans. Colby fell by a score of 87-75 on Wednesday night at Pratt to drop to 5-6 overall and 1-4 in the KJCCC with their lone conference win coming against Independence this past Saturday. Of Colby's five wins, four have been at home to go along with a neutral-site victory.