CONCORDIA – Unable to make the most of given opportunities in key moments, the Cloud County men's basketball team would see a second-half comeback end up just short in a 73-70 loss to Allen County Community College inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia on Wednesday.Cloud County is now 8-13 overall and 2-10 inside the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Allen snaps a three-game losing streak to improve to 13-7 overall and 8-3 in conference play."Tonight was a case of too little too late despite starting off on the right foot" said head coach Jordan Altman in a post-game interview. "A seven-point lead for us was erased and turned into an 11-point halftime deficit that ends up eventually being a 20-point swing that hurt us." "I think a lot of our issues right now fall on me with some issues that we identified in the pre-season but I failed to address." "The best thing we can do right now is to try and address the issues at hand and do everything we can as a coaching staff to help our players reach their potential on the court."Attacking the rim in the early going, the T-Birds would score the first four points of the game while holding Allen scoreless throughout the first two-plus minutes of action before seeing the Red Devils tie things up at the 16:56 mark. Things would take on a back-and-forth look as Allen would see CCCC take a 7-4 lead before coming back with six straight points to go up 10-10 just to see the T-Birds tie things up at 10-10 moments later. An&nbsp;<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/agee_akene_w6n0" target="_blank">Akene Agee</a>&nbsp;layup and free throw with 13:28 remaining in the first half would be part of a 10-0 run by CCCC to put the T-Birds up 17-10 midway through the first half but Allen would have a response by scoring six of the next eight to pull within three at 16-19. Agee would continue to do his best to keep the offense going for Cloud County scoring 10 of CCCC's 12 points over the course of four minutes to keep the T-Birds on top.Allen would then manage to go on a 9-0 run and force a Cloud County timeout as the Red Devils would take a 25-22 lead that with 7:08 left before halftime. The T-Birds would keep things close for the next several minutes, knocking on the door to reclaim the lead but be turned away each time by Allen as the Red Devils would have a response. With the score sitting at 29-28 in favor of ACCC, the Red Devils would go on an 11-0 spurt to take a 40-28 lead as the T-Birds would be unable to make any headway in the final minutes of the half and trail 44-33 at the break.Both teams would answer each other point-for-point in the opening minutes of the second half as Cloud County would be unable to cut into the Allen lead in the opening four minutes of the second period. Back-to-back triples from&nbsp;<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/reed_dyelan_8rkz" target="_blank">Dyelan Reed</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/ozomah_michael_k4g3" target="_blank">Michael Ozomah</a>&nbsp;would appear to spark the T-Birds offensively as CCCC would close within seven at 52-45, but Allen would manage to get the lead back out to nine at 56-47 with just under 13 minutes left in the game. The deficit would slowly shrink as Cloud County would continue to be aggressive and get to the rim on offense, but after closing to within four at 60-56 score the next three points to get some breathing room.Another push from CCCC would get the T-Birds back within five at 65-60 with 6:19 remaining, eventually becoming a three-point deficit on an&nbsp;<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/enaruna_iyen_qdpw" target="_blank">Iyen Enaruna</a>&nbsp;layup. Free throw shooting would then start to become a factor with both teams in the bonus as the Red Devils would get two free throws before conceding another layup to Enaruna. A defensive stop from Cloud County with 55 seconds remaining would give the ball back to CCCC as Enaruna would be fouled and manage to hit on just one of two free throws. Two more free throws from the Red Devils made things a four-point game with 23 seconds left with the T-Birds calling a timeout to set up their next possession.Out of the timeout, Cloud County would connect on a three to get within one at 69-68 before fouling to try and extend the game. Clutch free-throw shooting from Allen pushed the deficit back to three, but the T-Birds would be given a chance as&nbsp;<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/lewis_jay_5qzr" target="_blank">Jay Lewis</a>&nbsp;would be fouled while attempting a three. Lewis would go on to miss the first before hitting the next two as the T-Birds would once more extend the game by fouling. The Red Devils would once again hit both free throws and manage to survive a last-second heave from CCCC as the T-Birds would see their rally end up short. &nbsp;In what would be a relatively close statistical battle, Cloud County would edge Allen in rebounds (39-35) and second-chance points (13-10) but be bested by the Red Devils in points off turnovers (26-24) and points in the paint (32-30). CCCC would shoot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field, but get just 12 points from bench players and seven assists while Allen would score 30 points off the bench and get 10 assists on 22 made baskets.Lewis would score a team-high 20 points for Cloud County and add three rebounds and three steals, while Enaruna added 14 points and six rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Sims would score nine of his 11 points in the first half while Agee would add 10 of Cloud County's 12 bench points in limited action.What's next?The T-Birds will take on Independence Community College in KJCCC action on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Independence. ICC is 16-5 overall and 7-4 in the conference play this year, but will be coming off an 81-73 road defeat to Coffeyville Community College on Wednesday night. The meeting will mark the first of two contests between Cloud County and Independence this season.--<a href="http://cloudtbirds.com">cloudtbirds.com</a>--

Late rally too little, too late for T-Bird men against Allen County