Cloud County Men's Basketball Team Drops Season Opener to North Platte Knights, 68-56
20 Turnovers and a night that saw the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team shoot just 34.3 percent from the field and three-of-24 from beyond the arc would lead to a 68-56 home loss to North Platte Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Tuesday, November 1st.
Dropping their season-opener to the Knights for the second-consecutive season, CCCC is now 0-1 on the year while NPCC improves to 1-0.
Getting a layup on their opening possession of the game to grab an early 2-1 lead, the T-Birds would see North Platte score six of the first eight points in the contest before getting a Joe Kearney triple to pull within one in the opening minutes of the game. Two NPCC free throws would be the only points scored over the next three-plus minutes until a layup for North Platte would be responded to by a Cheikh Sow dunk to bring CCCC back within three. A 7-1 run from Antwone Gonzales for NPCC would then occur to allow the Knights to extend their lead to 17-8 as Cloud County would go nearly three and a half minutes between made field goals. Six-straight points from the T-Birds would bring the score back within three at 17-14 with 8:52 left in the first half, but North Platte would have a response by scoring eight of the next 11 points while holding Cloud County to just three free throws over the next 3:38 of game time. Trailing 25-17, CCCC would get a much-needed Corey Sawyer Jr. triple to bring the deficit down to five, but limited offense the rest of the first half would see the T-Birds held to just four points down the stretch to allow North Platte to take a 30-24 lead into the halftime break.
Four quick points from NPCC to open the second period would see the Cloud County deficit grow to double-digits momentarily as the T-Birds would respond with Sow three before the Thies, Senegal native would force a Knight turnover and get the ball up to Sawyer Jr. who would be fouled going up for a layup. After hitting both free throws to bring CCCC back within five, North Platte would put together an 8-1 run that would push the lead back out to double digits at 42-30 with 15:47 left in the contest. Trying to not let things get away from them, the T-Birds would get another Sow bucket and defensive stop as a 6-0 spurt from Cloud County would trim a 12-point deficit in half and get CCCC back within two possessions.
Just like in the previous 28 minutes of action, North Platte would find a way to respond to the Cloud County run by scoring nine of the next 11 points to go up 13 at 51-38 as time would begin to become a factor with just 7:37 remaining in the game. A quick response from Sawyer Jr. would get Cloud County some offensive momentum as the two teams would trade each of the next four field goals to see things remain a 13-point contest with just under six minutes left in the second half. NPCC's lead would then grow to a game-high 15 on a Ramiah Adedigba triple with 4:29 left as the T-Birds would be unable to create defensive stops in potential momentum-swinging possessions. Down 15 at 61-46 with 2:57 left in the game, Cloud County would score eight of the next 10 points over a span of 1:14 to get the deficit back to single-digits while still having a chance with 1:43 remaining. After a Knight timeout and missed opportunity from CCCC following a North Platte turnover, NPCC would begin to bleed the clock away while hitting five free throws in the final minute of action to ice away what would become a 12-point season-opening win.
In addition to Cloud County's poor-shooting performance that saw CCCC connect on just nine first-half field goals and 23 for the game, Cloud County would see missed opportunities at the free throw line (seven-of-14, 50.0 percent) in points off turnovers (13 points off 14 North Platte turnovers) prove to be costly in a game that never saw the T-Birds truly grab momentum. NPCC would not fare much better from the field, going 25-of-64 (39.1 percent) in the game and just four-of-16 (25.0 percent) from three, but hit 70.0 percent (14-for-20) of their free throws and get eight second-chance points in the win.
Sawyer Jr. (16) and Kearney (11) would be the lone two T-Birds in double-figures on the night as the Sawyer Jr. would grab seven rebounds and provide two assists in 27 minutes of action. Cloud County's next-highest scorer would be Sow off the bench with nine points and seven bounds in his collegiate debut. North Platte would see three of their five starters reach double-figures including a game-high 29 points from Adedigba while also grabbing five rebounds and hitting three of North Platte four triples in the contest.
What's Next?
A tall task awaits CCCC as the T-Birds will travel to Ottumwa, Iowa to take part in the RV & Power Sport Classic this weekend hosted by Indian Hills Community College. Cloud County will take on host and number-three nationally-ranked Indian Hills on Friday, November 4th at 7 PM before squaring off against the number-14 ranked NJCAA Division II in Iowa Lakes at 4:30 PM on Saturday, November 5th. The third-ranked Warriors escaped in overtime Tuesday night to defeat Dodge City by a score of 88-87 while Iowa Lakes will open their season Friday afternoon in Ottumwa against Independence Community College before Saturday's matchup with CCCC.