Cloud County Men Fall Short in 73-71 Home Loss Against Independence Pirates
Trailing for a majority of the contest, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would make a late comeback for the second-consecutive game but be unable to find a potential game-tying shot on two possessions in the final seconds to fall by a final score of 73-71 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 25th.
Falling to 12-9 overall, CCCC is now 8-7 overall in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Pirates manage to split the season series with the T-Birds while improving to 7-13 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
A streaky shooting Independence squad would quickly jump out to an 11-2 lead on Cloud County after giving up a dunk to open the game to the T-Birds as CCCC would go 3:35 between their first two buckets of the game to fall into an early nine-point deficit. The ICC lead would reach double-digits at 14-4 with 15:35 left in the first half with a T-Bird timeout being called a minute later. The Independence lead would remain double digits over the next two-plus minutes of action with the Pirates seemingly having an answer for each T-Bird bucket before CCCC would finally manage to put together an 8-0 surge to get back within two at 22-20 at the 10:04 mark of the first half.
After making a run to get back within a possession, Cloud County would see Independence make a run of their own to push the lead back out to seven with efficient shooting still carrying the Pirates through the opening period of the game. Trailing by a 29-23 margin, the T-Birds would get a Joe Kearney triple to cut the deficit in half while sparking another 7-0 run to give CCCC their first lead since the opening minute of the game. Three more lead changes would occur over the ensuing 2:27 of game action with Independence outscoring Cloud County 5-3 during the stretch before going on to score the final six points of the half to add to their one-point lead and make it a 40-33 contest at the half.
Seeing the deficit grow to nine in the opening minutes of the second half, Cloud County would manage to keep Independence from pushing their lead to double-digits as timely triples from Kearney and Malang Athian would keep the T-Birds within striking distance. Cutting the lead down to four on three different occasions, CCCC would continue to try and cut further into the Independence lead but be turned back each time with the Pirates eventually pushing their lead back out to eight at 55-47 with 10:49 left in the game.
Having managed to keep ICC from growing their lead to double-digits in the second half, Cloud County would see the Pirates manage to match their largest lead of the game on a made Rashaun Parker triple with 8:20 remaining as the deficit would sit at 10 for Cloud County with time quickly becoming a potential factor. With the deficit still sitting at 10 with 6:02 remaining, the T-Birds would get a Justin Graham dunk to set off a 6-0 run to get back within four while holding the Pirates scoreless for a stretch of nearly three minutes which allowed the home crowd to get back into the contest.
A massive three-point play for Independence would quiet the crowd with just over three minutes remaining as ICC would get their lead back up to eight before seeing an Athian triple bring CCCC back within five at 70-65 with 2:15 remaining. Scoring the next three points of the contest, Independence would appear to be on their way to holding off the T-Birds, but a determined Cloud County squad would get a pair of Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. free throws before forcing a Pirate turnover that would lead to an easy Kearney layup.
With the deficit now sitting at just four points and 54 seconds remaining, the T-Birds would force a second-consecutive turnover by Independence in the backcourt to regain possession and draw a foul in the lane. Hitting both free throws would be Andre Gray II to bring CCCC within two as another defensive stop would be needed for CCCC to have a shot in the final seconds. The Pirates would manage to draw a foul on what would appear to be a jump-ball situation but miss on the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with the T-Birds grabbing the rebound. Electing not to use a timeout, CCCC would wind up turning the ball over on a drive to the hoop and be forced to foul with 12 seconds remaining with ICC once again having a one-and-one free throw opportunity.
Another chance would be given to Cloud County following a missed free throw on the front end again as CCCC would elect to call a timeout with nine seconds remaining. Looking for a drive to the hoop and kick out for a game-tying shot, Independence would hold defensively to deflect the ball away on the pass and manage to push the ball into open space to force time to run out and escape with the two-point victory.
Once again setting a new high for a T-Bird opponent this season, Independence would finish the game with a 52.7 percent (29-of-55) shooting performance despite seeing Cloud County shoot 41.9 percent (26-of-62) on their offensive end. Both teams would have similar numbers from three with the Pirates going seven-of-19 (36.8 percent) compared to a 32.1 percent (nine-of-28) outing from the T-Birds with both squads shooting under 60 percent from the charity stripe. The biggest difference in the contest would come in the form of second-chance points with nine offensive rebounds for ICC leading to 14 points compared to just seven second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds for Cloud County.
Scoring 11 points in each half to lead the T-Birds would be Kearney with a team-high 22 points and five steals while Athian would score 19 points and grab four rebounds. CCCC would also have Corey Sawyer Jr. score 10 points and record two assists as no other player for Cloud County would score more than eight. Independence would be led by a game-high 23 points from Johan Nziemi to eclipse his team-best 20-point performance against the T-Birds back in November.
What's next?
CCCC will have a week off to regroup and get healthy for the final stretch of the regular season with their next game coming on Wednesday, February 1st with an 8 PM game in Liberal, Kansas against Seward County Community College. The Saints have two contests scheduled to be played before hosting Cloud County, playing at home against Colby on Thursday evening before going to Dodge City on Saturday afternoon. SCCC is currently 10-10 overall and 6-8 in the KJCCC which includes a 59-54 road defeat to Cloud County back on November 30th.