CONCORDIA – Without three of their top four leading scorers, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would struggle offensively en route to an 80-58 loss to Garden City Community College inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Monday.
The loss would drop Cloud County to 4-7 overall and 2-7 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Broncbusters picked up their second-straight win to move to 5-4 overall and 4-4 in the KJCCC.
Despite an up-tempo pace in the opening minutes of the game, neither team would be able to make the most of the opportunities that would be had as the score would sit at just 9-7 five minutes into the game. After a Garden City triple would put the Broncbusters up by a score of 12-7, Cloud County would respond by scoring eight of the next nine to go up 15-13 momentarily. Another GCCC triple would jumpstart an 8-2 Garden City run as the Broncbusters would reclaim the lead at 21-17, but the T-Birds would not go away quietly as Travis Beetch would get a layup on a backdoor cut to the rim to pull CCCC back within a pair of 21-19.
Eight of the next nine points would then be scored by Garden City as the Broncbuster depth would begin to become a distinct advantage in the game with Cloud County unable to match fresh bodies. The GCCC lead would then reach double digits at 36-20 on a transition three with 3:11 left in the first half as Garden City would score 12 of the final 14 points of the opening period to take a 46-18 lead into the break.
Cloud County's first half deficit would prove to an issue in the second half as CCCC would be unable to find any type of flow on offense in the second half. Garden City would manage to maintain their double-digit lead and keep their foot on the pedal as the lead for GCCC would grow to as many as 24 in the first 10 minutes of the second. Ultimately, the limited roster and large deficit would prove to be too much for the T-Birds as Garden City would never see their lead fall below 19 in the final eight-plus minutes of action to get back to .500 in league action.
Bench points would be a key factor to the game as Garden City would outscore Cloud County 40-13 from the bench including a game-high 19 points from JJ Watson. CCCC would outscore GCCC 22-10 in second-chance points, but would be unable to overcome a 17-6 deficit in points off turnovers as the T-Birds would be guilty of 14 turnovers in the contest.
Malang Athian (18 points) and Ibrahim Drame (14 points) would account for 32 of CCCC's 58 points in the contest as no other T-Bird would reach double-figures on the night. Drame would add 10 rebounds to record just his second double-double of the season while Detavius Frierson would fall one point and one rebound short of a double-double to finish with nine and nine.
What's next?
CCCC returns to KJCCC East Division play on Wednesday as the T-Birds will take on the Pirates of Independence Community College at 8 p.m. Independence has lost two straight and is now 8-4 overall and 6-4 in the KJCCC ahead of Wednesday's clash with Cloud County.
--cloudtbirds.com--