Cloud County Men Hammer Independence Pirates, 87-48
Overcoming a sloppy opening eight minutes of play, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team took control in the closing minutes of the first half to grab a 42-21 halftime lead on their way to an 87-48 home drubbing of visiting Independence Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 3rd.
Earning a second-straight win within the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, Cloud County picks up their 10th win of the year to improve to 10-4 overall and 5-3 in the KJCCC while Independence continues a losing skid that has reached 12 games to fall to 1-12 overall and 0-7 in the Jayhawk Conference.
With slow starts by both teams leading to a 3-3 tie after three minutes of action, Cloud County turned defense into offense as a Cheikh Sow steal led to a Prentice Young Jr. fast break layup to put the T-Birds up 5-3 with 16:25 left in the first half before seeing Independence respond with a bucket to tie things back up a minute later. Reclaiming the lead on a free throw by Young Jr. Cloud County went on a 9-0 run with back-to-back triples by Emmanuel Manyuon and Isaiah Sy capping off the run and putting CCCC up 14-5 with 12:55 left in the first period. Pushing their lead to double-digits for the first time at 17-7, the T-Birds continued to build their advantage with offense coming in the form of transition layups off both ICC turnovers and an aggressive style of play to attack the paint in the half-court offense.
Holding a 25-10 lead with 8:01 left before halftime, Cloud County saw two Independence threes on back-to-back possessions allow the Pirates to cut into the lead slightly as the CCCC advantage hovered between 10 and 13 points over the next four-plus minutes of game time. Weathering the spurt from the Pirates, Cloud County responded by getting an Abdoulaye Fall offensive put back and a pair of free throws by Young Jr. to go up 16 at 35-19 with the lead growing 21 on a three by Sy to end the first half and put Cloud County out in front of Independence by a score of 42-21.
Trading made three-point baskets with the Pirates to begin the second half, there was little change to the game in the final 20 minutes of play as Cloud County continued to build their lead over the first six minutes when play resumed to go up 55-27 as a Fall steal was finished off with a layup from the Dakar, Senegal native. The lead for CCCC eclipsed the 30-point mark just past the mid-way point of the half and continued to grow as efficient shooting in all three areas saw the T-Birds hit their season average of 75 with six minutes still remaining in the contest while holding a 36-point lead. Down the stretch, Cloud County managed to get bench players meaningful minutes in the game while continuing to add to their lead which grew to a game-high 46 before a 9-2 run by Independence to end the game to bring the final margin of victory back under 40.
Finishing both the first and second half shooting over 50 percent from the field, Cloud County finished with a 52.6 percent (30-of-57) field goal percentage and 53.8 percent (seven-of-13) three-point field goal percentage while hitting on 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) of their free-throw attempts. Independence was held to just 16 total field goals in the contest, going 16-of-59 (27.1 percent) from the floor and seven-of-27 (25.9 percent) from three, and a dismal 37.5 percent (nine-of-24) from the charity stripe. CCCC held a 49-28 advantage in the rebounding department in addition to a 30-8 advantage in points off turnovers as second-chance points was the only statistical category that was not fully in favor of the T-Birds (7-7).
A balanced effort from Cloud County saw both Sow and Fall finish with a team-high 14 points with Sow adding 15 rebounds and six assists. Fall had three rebounds and three steals while Young Jr. had a career-high 12 points in his first career start as a T-Bird. Other players for CCCC to reach double-figures included Sy (13) and Manyuon (11) with four other players accounting for the remaining 23 points for Cloud County. Independence had just one player score more than seven points and was led by a 14-point outing from Cory Curtis Jr.
What's Next?
Next up for Cloud County is a Saturday road trip on January 6th to take on Pratt Community College in Pratt beginning at 4 PM from the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena. One of the more difficult road venues in the KJCCC, the T-Birds have not won at Pratt since January 28th, 2017 when CCCC took down the Beavers 107-80. Pratt had the KJCCC bye on Wednesday evening but played their non-conference finale at top-ranked South Plains College and pushed the Texans to the brink in an 87-82 loss after holding a 44-39 halftime lead. The Beavers are currently 5-7 overall and 3-4 in the KJCCC.