Cloud County Men's Basketball Wins Season Opener Over McPherson JV, 79-44
Breaking open an 18-15 contest with 9:27 left in the first half to go up 38-25 at the half, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would cruise through the second half of their 2023-24 season opener to earn a 79-44 win over McPherson College JV inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, November 1st.
The win gives third-year head coach Devin Kastrup his first victory in a season-opening game as head coach of the T-Birds while McPherson JV drops to 1-1 overall.
Scoring before any time even elapsed in the contest following an administrative bench technical issued to McPherson JV, Cloud County would trail for just 17 seconds as the Bulldogs would win the opening tip-off and hit an open jump shot to take their only lead of the game at 2-1. Cloud County sophomore Kyle McElroy would score each of the next two buckets to put CCCC up 5-2 as the T-Birds would maintain a one-possession lead over the course of the next five minutes of action with McPherson JV answering each Cloud County basket with a made shot of their own. Holding a 9-8 lead with 14:44 left in the first half, Cloud County would get a steal and breakaway dunk from Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. to start a 6-2 T-Bird spurt that would extend the lead to 15-10 before growing the lead to six after a made Bulldog bucket and Abdoulaye Fall triple as a response.
McPherson JV would continue to keep things close as the margin would only be five at 20-15 Cloud County with just under nine minutes left in the first half before seeing a Briggs Jr. layup give CCCC their largest lead up to that point at 22-15. Another response from the Bulldogs however would quickly close the gap to just two at 22-20 with 6:29 remaining before seeing the T-Birds use a 16-5 run to close out the half and finally put some separation between the two teams with a pair of three-point plays coming from Cheikh Sow and Briggs Jr.
After seeing nearly two minutes of scoreless action to begin the second half, Cloud County would finally break the scoring drought with a Briggs Jr. layup as the lead would grow to 44-28 at the 16:52 mark before reaching a 20-point margin at 50-30 just two minutes later. CCCC would then endure another two-plus minute scoring drought that would be broken with a pair of Roy Aviv free throws after seeing McPherson JV's head coach be assessed a technical foul as the ensuing offensive possession would also lead to points with a made three coming from Aviv.
With the lead now up over 20 points, Cloud County would start to look more and more comfortable throughout the latter stages of the second half with the Bulldogs being held to just one made basket over a span of nearly six minutes which would allow the T-Birds to go up 26 at 61-35. Continuing to work on both ends of the floor, CCCC would see their lead grow to 30 off a Prentice Young Jr. layup with 5:52 remaining before a pair of free throws from Fall on the next offensive possession that would put the T-Birds up over the 70-point mark. The large lead would allow the T-Birds to begin mixing rotations and keep legs fresh as a made Cav Carlgren three would extend the lead to 35 and eventually the largest lead of the night on an Emmanuel Manyoun free throw as McPherson JV would be limited to just five points over the final 6:43 of the game.
Shooting over 40 percent from the floor in each half, Cloud County would finish the game with a 44.1 percent field goal percentage (30-of-68) despite being limited to a four-of-23 (17.4 percent) effort from beyond the arc. CCCC would make up for the limited output from deep by going 15-for-18 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe while also forcing 17 McPherson turnovers that would lead to 17 T-Bird points. Cloud County would also hold a 49-28 advantage in the rebounding department and outscore McPherson JV 50-12 in points in the paint.
Accounting for 37 of Cloud County's 79 points would be the duo of Fall (21) and Briggs Jr. (16) with Sow adding nine points to go along with six rebounds. Briggs Jr. would add a game-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year and also have four steals in 26 minutes of action. McPherson JV would be led by team-high nine-point efforts from Damareon Williams and Trey Hill while seeing Dason Cook haul in a team-best eight rebounds.
What's Next?
Two games in Sedalia, Missouri await Cloud County this weekend as the T-Birds head to State Fair Community College for the McDonald's Classic beginning on Friday, November 3rd. CCCC will open their two-game slate against Neosho Community College at 3:30 PM on Friday before taking on host State Fair Community College at 7:30 PM on Saturday, November 4th. Neosho dropped a 76-50 road decision at Murray State College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma Wednesday evening while State Fair earned a 93-57 win over Missouri Valley College JV in their season opener at home Wednesday night.