Cloud County Men Take Down Cowley 71-63, Advance in 2023 NJCAA Region VI Tournament
In a rematch of their final home game of the regular season just a week ago, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would string together an 18-0 run in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to erase a 40-35 deficit and come away with a 71-63 home win over Cowley Community College in the opening round of the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Tournament inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, March 4th.
With the win, the eighth-seeded T-Birds will advance to take on top-seeded and Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference regular-season champion Dodge City Community College in Dodge City while improving to 16-15 overall. Cowley sees their season end after dropping five of their final seven games to finish with a 16-15 overall record.
After seeing last Saturday's battle end in a 13-point Tiger victory, both Cloud County and Cowley would find themselves locked in another close battle throughout the opening period as neither team would lead by more than six. Three-point shooting would be the focal point on both ends of the court. Following made triples from both teams on their opening possession, it would be the T-Birds who would connect with a Corey Sawyer Jr. three followed by a transition layup from the Oviedo, Florida native to go up 8-3 just three minutes into the game. Cloud County would manage to maintain their lead over the next four minutes of action before seeing six straight points from Cowley tie things up at 11-11 with 13:29 left in the first half.
Reclaiming the lead on a Kyle McElroy offensive rebound and layup, the T-Birds would see Cowley tie things once again at 13-13 before taking their first lead of the game 15-13 a minute later. The next four-plus minutes of action would see both Cloud County and Cowley trade the lead back and forth two more times while also seeing a tie at 19-19 that would be followed by a 6-0 Tiger run to put the T-Birds in a 25-19 hole. Four more points from Sawyer on back-to-back possessions would be part of a 7-2 run by Cloud County to pull back within one as the T-Birds would battle back three different times in the final 2:14 of the first half to get within one. Following each push by Cloud County, Cowley would have an answer on the offensive end to eventually hold a 38-35 lead heading into halftime.
Allowing an offensive rebound and layup for the first points of the second half, Cloud County would go the first 2:13 of the second half before managing to get on the scoreboard with a Sawyer Jr. layup to pull within three. A steal from McElroy would then set up a Moaz Mohamed corner triple to tie things at 40-40 as the T-Birds would grab momentum and score the next 13 points of the game thanks in part to two more Mohamed treys. Having finally put some separation between teams, the T-Birds would get another Mohamed three after seeing Cowley end the 18-0 run to take their largest lead of the contest at 56-42 after starting the second half by hitting on four of their first eight three-point attempts.
A 7-0 Cowley run over the ensuing four minutes would see the once 14-point T-Bird lead cut in half down to seven with just under eight minutes remaining. Ending the Tiger run and scoring drought with a pair of Justin Graham free throws, Cloud County would manage to push their lead back out to double-digits at 59-49 and maintain the 10-point advantage over the next three minutes of play with a pair of Sawyer Jr. free throws putting CCCC back up 66-54 with 4:24 remaining. Responding with a three would be Cowley to pull back within nine before getting a second-straight three from Damare Smith to cut the T-Bird lead in half to trail by only six with 3:48 remaining.
The final stretch of the contest would truly become a war of attrition with fouls that had mounted up throughout the game starting to see players foul out while allowing both teams to get opportunities at the free throw line. Cowley would cut the Cloud County lead down to four at 66-62 after a transition layup before getting a defensive stop to have a chance at pulling within one possession on their next offensive possession. Coming up big on the defensive end, The T-Birds would force a turnover by the Tigers to regain possession and three different opportunities to score before ultimately coming up empty.
With the game still a four-point Cloud County lead heading into the final minute, the T-Birds would again stand tall by forcing a missed Cowley shot and grabbing the defensive rebound which would force the Tigers to foul to try and extend the game. Splitting a pair of free throws to go up five, Cloud County would wind up fouling Cowley but see the Tigers also split a pair of free throws to keep the advantage at two possessions with 28 seconds remaining. Another Cowley foul would send Graham to the line where the sophomore would convert both free throws to make it a six-point game. Cowley would elect to take a three on their next offensive possession that would be off the mark and wind up leading to Cloud County rebound before seeing a T-Bird turnover give the ball back to the Tigers with 20 seconds left. Another missed three by Cowley would have the ball end up back in Graham's hands as Cowley would have no choice but to foul Sawyer Jr. with eight seconds left as two made free throws would ultimately put the game on ice for Cloud County to pick up their first postseason win since February 25th, 2016.
Finishing one made three shy of their season-high, Cloud County would connect on 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) three-point attempts to help a 36.7 percent (22-of-60) field goal percentage as free throw shooting would also be problematic throughout the day (15-of-27, 55.6 percent). Making up for the missed opportunities at the charity stripe, the T-Birds would get 16 points off 13 Cowley turnovers and out rebound the Tigers 45-36 with 19 rebounds coming on the offensive end.
Coming off the bench and sparking Cloud County with seven of their 12 made threes would be Mohamed who would finish with a game-high 21 points on seven-of-11 shooting while also grabbing two rebounds and recording one steal. Sawyer Jr. would add 19 points with a seven-for-eight performance at the charity stripe to officially set the new Cloud County career record for made free throws just one game after setting the single-season record against Colby. Graham would also reach double-figures with 11 points while Briggs Jr. would grab a career-high 12 rebounds and provide three assists in 35 minutes of action. Cowley would have three players reach double-figures and be led by a team-high 20 points from Mekhi Cameron who would play a team-high 35 minutes on Saturday.
What's Next?
The quarterfinal round of the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Tournament will take place on Tuesday, March 7th with Cloud County making the trip west to Dodge City for a 7:30 PM contest with the Conquistadors. CCCC and DCCC split the regular-season series with both teams winning on their home courts which included a 76-66 win for the T-Birds on February 15th. Dodge City earned an 82-80 win on December 12th in the regular season meeting in Dodge City with the winner of Tuesday's contest advancing to the semifinal round against either fourth-seeded Butler or 12th-seeded Independence.