NC Kansas News

Cloud County Men Get Bucket In Final Seconds To Complete 60-57 Comeback At Northwest Kansas Tech

Trailing by as many as 15 in the first half and 10 at halftime, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would turn to their strong point in defense to hold host Northwest Kansas Technical College to just 20 second-half points while getting a go-ahead layup from Moaz Mohamed with 19 seconds left to win 60-57 inside Max Jones Fieldhouse in Goodland, Kansas on Thursday, January 19th.

 

Picking up their third consecutive win over NWKT, Cloud County improves to 12-7 overall and 8-5 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while going on to sweep the season series. The Mavericks drop seventh consecutive game to fall to 7-11 on the year and are now 3-10 in the KJCCC.

 

It wouldn't take long to see that points would be at a premium throughout the night as just one point would be scored in the opening two minutes and a total of seven through the opening four minutes with the T-Birds scoring five of the first seven to jump out to an early 5-2 lead. Despite being limited offensively throughout the first 10 minutes of the first half, CCCC would manage to maintain their lead as Northwest Tech would trail up until the 11:12 mark of the opening period when a pair of Taiden Connor free throws would tie the game at 10-10.

 

Stuck in the midst of a nearly three-minute scoring drought, Cloud County would see the Mavericks claim their first lead of the game at 12-10 and quickly push their lead to four before eventually reaching eight at 22-14 with 6:36 left before halftime. Nine of the next 11 points would then be scored by Northwest Tech to run their lead to a game-high 15 at 31-16 with 4:12 remaining in the first half before seeing the T-Birds break the run with a Mohamed free throw to set up an 11-6 spurt from Cloud County to close out the half and get within 10 at 37-27.

 

Starting the second half with a Joe Kearney made three, Cloud County would see the deficit remain in double-digit territory for the opening six-plus minutes of the half before finally managing to cut into the deficit for good as six straight points from Corey Sawyer Jr. would trim an 11-point deficit all the way down to five. Having over 12 minutes of game time left to continue to cut into the Northwest Tech lead, CCCC would manage to keep within striking distance over the course of the next four minutes of game time and eventually take the lead on a Sawyer Jr. dunk with 7:50 left in the game.

 

The 49-48 lead for Cloud County would last a mere 22 seconds a pair of free throws for the Mavericks would put NWKT back up one before pushing their lead back to six as part of a 7-0 run that would give Northwest Tech some breathing room with 4:49 remaining. Having already mounted one comeback, the T-Birds would patiently continue to run their game plan and attack the paint to get to the free throw line and also score close to the hoop as the next seven points would all be scored by CCCC.

 

With just two minutes left in regulation, a T-Bird foul would send Connor to the free throw line where he would sink both free throws to put the Mavericks back up one before a pair of missed shots by Cloud County would lead to an empty possession. Drawing an offensive foul in the paint, CCCC would reclaim possession of the ball while still trailing by just a point but come up empty-handed yet again as NWKT would force a turnover. The Mavericks would turn the ball right back over however with 24 seconds left as Sawyer Jr. would come up with a big steal and get the ball in the hands of a streaking Mohamed who would lay it in for a 58-57 lead.

 

Northwest Tech would inbound the ball and get across half court before calling their final timeout of the game with 10 seconds left as a chance to draw up a potential game-winning shot was still a possibility. Out of the timeout, the Mavericks would get a look for Connor to drive into the lane and put up a runner that would hit off the rim and into the hands of Justin Graham who would get the ball to Sawyer Jr. A foul by the Mavericks 0.6 seconds left would send Sawyer Jr. to the free throw line for a one-and-one situation as the Oviedo, Florida native would sink both free throws to make things a three-point game. Northwest Tech would get one final shot at a desperation full-court heave but would be unable to score as the T-Birds would escape with the come-from-behind victory.

 

Holding the Mavericks 18 points under their season average of 75.6, Cloud County would pick up their third win of the year when being held to 60 or fewer points and their first win of the year when trailing at the half. Shooting just 34.0 percent (17-of-50) from the field and three-of-20 (15.0 percent) from beyond the arc, the T-Birds would make the most of the charity stripe by going 23-of-28 (82.1 percent) from the free throw line while outscoring NWKT 13-8 in second-chance points thanks in part to a 33-27 advantage in rebounds.

 

Just one player for CCCC would reach double-figures, but it would be a game-high 26 from Sawyer Jr. who would also record seven steals and six rebounds. Mohamed and Kearney would be next in the scoring column for Cloud County with seven points each while Cheikh Sow, Graham, and Malang Athian all contributed five points each. Connor would score a team-high 19 for Northwest Tech and also grab three rebounds while Keyishon Miller would add 17 as the two would account for 36 of the 57 points scored by the Mavericks.

 

Original source can be found here.