Cloud County Men's Basketball Opens McDonald's Classic with 74-61 Win Over Neosho
A 50 percent shooting percentage from the field in the first half of play would allow the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team to build a 41-28 lead that would never be relinquished in the second half en route to a 74-61 neutral-site victory over Neosho County Community College inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on the campus of State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri on Friday, November 3rd.
Improving to 2-0 on the season, Cloud County has won their first two games of the season by an average of 24 points while Neosho falls to 0-2 on the season after dropping their season opener on the road this past Wednesday prior to Friday's game with the T-Birds.
Going 14-of-28 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, CCCC would connect on seven-of-11 three-point attempts in the first half to offset a limited number of opportunities at the free-throw line while getting out to a double-digit halftime lead. Both Cloud County and Neosho would match each other's output in the second half with both teams scoring 33 points as the T-Birds would never allow the Panthers to make a run to make things close in the final minutes of the game.
As a team, Cloud County would shoot 51.0 percent (26-of-51) from the field which included a nine-for-16 (60.0 percent) effort from beyond the arc along with a 61.9 percent (13-of-21) effort from the free throw line. The T-Birds would grab 36 total rebounds and assist on 13 of their 26 made field goals in the game as 12 of their rebounds would come on the offensive end. Individually, Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. would lead CCCC for the second-straight contest by finishing with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double to record his second consecutive game reaching double-figures in both categories. Scoring eight of his 13 total points in the first half, freshman Isaiah Sy would also record three steals and three rebounds in 22 minutes of action off the bench while Roy Aviv (12) and Cheikh Sow (10) would also get to double-figures in the point column. An all-around effort from sophomore Kyle McElroy would see the Chicago, Illinois native score six points while adding three rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
What's Next?
CCCC will look to cap off a perfect opening week to the season when they close out the McDonald's Classic against host State Fair Community College at 7:30 PM on Saturday, November 4th. State Fair will be in action on Friday evening against Central Methodist University JV prior to Saturday's matchup with the T-Birds, with the contest against Cloud County serving as the first game of the year against NJCAA competition for the Roadrunners after playing JV opponents in their first two games of the season.