Cloud County Men's Basketball Earns 71-51 Home Win Over Northeast Community College
An early season battle of unbeaten teams would go the way of the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team in a 71-51 home victory over Northeast Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, November 11th.
Through the opening two weeks of the season, CCCC improves to 4-0 while winning their games by an average of 25 points per contest while the Hawks fall for the first time under first-year head coach Josh Clark after being held 33 points under their season average.
Connecting on each of their first three attempts from beyond the arc, Cloud County would waste little time jumping out to an 11-4 lead at the 16:41 mark with sophomore Cheikh Sow scoring eight of the 11 points for CCCC. The T-Birds would manage to maintain their two-plus possession lead over the next five-plus minutes of action as Northeast would get no closer than four at 11-7 before seeing dunks from Abdoulaye Fall and Emmanuel Manyuon push things back out to eight and eventually 10 at 19-9. Back-to-back triples from Northeast would quickly see the deficit get right back down to four as Cloud County would endure a three-plus minute scoring drought before getting back-to-back buckets from Bol Agu to regain some breathing room and eventually go back up double-digits at 25-15. Sow would then connect on his third three of the half with 3:31 remaining before halftime to give CCCC a 13-point lead that would grow to as many as 15 in the final minute of the opening period with Northeast scoring the final two points of the first half on a pair of free throws to let the score sit at 32-19 heading into the break.
Another quick start from Cloud County would see layups from Ja'ron Briggs Jr. and Fall extend the lead 17 as the T-Birds would score 13 of the first 15 points of the half with CCCC starting to pull away. The 24-point advantage for the T-Birds with just under 16 minutes left in the game would give Cloud County a chance to rotate players as needed to keep bodies fresh with Northeast getting no closer than 20 over the opening 10 minutes of the second half while seeing the lead Cloud County hit a high-water mark of 25 with 9:49 left in the game. After having their lead reach its apex at 54-29, the T-Birds would see Northeast score the next five points of the contest at the charity stripe to get back within 20 at 54-34 but no closer as CCCC would have responses on the offensive end to keep things where they were at. The Hawks would eventually manage to get the deficit back under 20 in the final 90 seconds of the contest on two separate occasions but see the T-Birds score six of the final 10 points to ensure a 20-point victory for the third time this season.
A 43.3 percent (26-of-60) outing from the field would see Cloud County shoot just 23.8 percent (five-of-21) from three and 14-for-22 (63.6 percent) from the free throw line while holding Northeast to similar shooting numbers. The Hawks would hit on 38.3 percent (18-of-47) from the floor and 68.4 percent (13-of-19) from the free throw line but connect on just two-of-18 (11.1 percent) of their three-point attempts and see CCCC outscore them 42-22 in points in the paint. The T-Birds would also hold a 16-6 advantage in second-chance points after out rebounding the Hawks 43-27 and a 16-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
Scoring 19 points for the second-straight game would be Sow after playing a game-high 34 minutes and grabbing 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the year while seeing Briggs Jr. record a double-double for the third time this season after scoring 12 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Fall would also have double-digit points after finishing with 11 and providing four rebounds and three steals to help lead the way for the T-Birds. Northeast would have just one player reach double-figures, with Vincent Garrett scoring a team-best 10 in 31 minutes of play.
What's Next?
One final tune-up contest before the start of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play will see Cloud County play host to the Bethany College JV team in an 8 PM contest on Monday, November 13th. The T-Birds last hosted the Swedes during the 2021-22 season and won by a score of 77-29 for the lowest opposing team total that the T-Birds have allowed under third-year coach head coach Devin Kastrup.