Cloud County Men Open Region VI Tournament with 79-54 Home Win Over Colby
Putting together one of their more complete performances in the past six weeks of play, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team took care of business in the opening round of the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Men's Basketball Tournament by never trailing and leading by as many as 30 on their way to a 79-54 home win over Colby Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, March 9th.
A fifth-straight win over Colby allows Cloud County to improve to 21-10 overall this season while advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Region VI Tournament for the second-straight season. Colby sees their season end at 10-21 overall after being 17 points under their season average while being unable to push the T-Birds to the limit like the last meeting on February 14th that went to overtime as part of a 75-72 Cloud County win.
Tough starts on both offensive ends of the floor saw 3:50 of game time elapse before finally having points put on the scoreboard as Cloud County broke a scoreless tie with a Cheikh Sow triple as part of a 9-2 run to open the game with Colby making just one of their first six field goal attempts with five Trojan turnovers in the first seven minutes of action. Extending their lead to eight on two separate occasions, the T-Birds saw Colby keep the score within single digits until an Abdoulaye Fall layup with 7:27 left in the first half to put Cloud County up 23-12 as part of a 7-0 spurt by CCCC. The Trojans briefly got the deficit back within nine after a Maxence Massadila triple with 5:43 left before halftime but saw a Sow field goal start an 8-1 run by the T-Birds push things to a 16-point lead at 33-17 with 3:22 left in the half. Back-to-back Colby triples brought things back within 10 with just over two minutes left before halftime as the Trojans scored nine of the final 11 points of the first period to get within nine at 36-25 for their closest deficit in the final eight minutes of the half.
Starting the second half with another made three, Cloud County used a Fall trey to push their lead back to double-digits by opening the half with nine of the first 11 points to match their 16-point lead from the first half at 44-28 with 17:24 left in the game. The T-Bird lead held steady over the next four minutes of play before seeing an 8-2 spurt from CCCC capped off by back-to-back Cav Carlgren layups to push the lead over 20 points at 58-37 with CCCC continuing to attack the paint and score easy points to go take a 64-39 lead with 9:55 left. In full control of the game and getting efficient offensive looks on most possessions, the T-Birds took their largest lead of the game with just under six minutes remaining after a made Fall layup on a pass from Emmanuel Manyuon as the large advantage allowed Cloud County to rotate players and rest their starters down the final stretch with the lead never dropping below 23 in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Finishing 31-of-51 (60.8 percent) from the field, Cloud County overcame their lowest made number of three-point field goals this season (three-of-16, 18.8 percent) and 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) free-throw outing by holding a 39-22 advantage in rebounds and outscoring the Trojans 18-7 in points off turnovers. CCCC also held a 10-2 advantage in second-chance points and a 54-16 advantage in points in the paint as 32 of Colby's 54 points either came from beyond the arc or at the free-throw line.
Netting a game-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds was Fall after going seven-of-nine from the field while Manyuon scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half and finished six-of-seven from the floor with six rebounds of his own off the bench. Sow scored 12 points and had a team-high seven rebounds while Ja'ron Briggs Jr. flirted with a double-double after scoring nine points and dishing out a game-high eight assists. Colby was led by a team-best 15 from Raphael Nagau-Trouart as three Trojans reached double-figures (Alec Carlson – 14, Massadila – 11) to account for 40 of their 54 points.
What's Next?
The rubber match on the season between Cloud County and Butler Community College will come on Tuesday, March 12th at 7:30 PM in El Dorado, Kansas as part of the quarterfinal round of the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Tournament. Having met just one week ago on March 2nd, Cloud County will look to make it two straight against the Grizzlies after winning 81-67 against BCCC in their last meeting. Butler ended the regular season on a three-game losing streak but is 22-8 overall on the year and defeated the T-Birds 63-50 in El Dorado back on January 17th. The winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal round will play in the first semifinal game of the Region VI Tournament on Friday, March 15th which will take place at 3 PM inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena against the winner of top-seeded and number-one ranked Barton and eighth-seeded Coffeyville Community College.