Cloud County Men's Basketball Falls for the First Time in 86-75 Loss to No. 1 Barton

The Cloud County Community College men's basketball team came up short in a hard-fought contest against No. 1 Barton on Tuesday, November 26, with the unbeaten Cougars securing an 86-75 victory over the T-Birds. Barton improves to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play with the win. Cloud County goes to 8-1 overall and 2-1 in conference action with the loss.

Barton had the hotter hand in the first half, going 48.5 percent from the floor with six three-pointers while outrebounding the T-Birds 21-16. Cloud County shot 37.5 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes with just one made three as the Cougars led it 42-27 at halftime.

The T-Birds made a charge in the second half. A 12-3 run ending on a pair of free throws by sophomore Fallou Koite brought the game back to single digits at 53-44 with 14:54 to go. Barton pushed its lead back out to 16 points before Cloud County came roaring back, again cutting the deficit to nine points on a layup by freshman Elidjah Savane with 8:45 remaining.

A pair of free-throws courtesy of Savane pulled Cloud County to within eight points at 66-58 with 7:21 left in the game, but that's as close as the T-Birds would get. A 12-5 run by Barton gave them a 15 point advantage with just over four minutes to play. Cloud County was unable to chip away at their lead, suffering the 11 point home loss.

Barton hit at a 47.6 percent clip (30-of-63) to outpace Cloud County's final 41.9 percent (26-of-62). The Cougars had 11 made three-pointers to five for Cloud County. Barton collected 38 rebounds to edge out Cloud County's 35. And the Cougars had more production off the bench, outscoring the T-Birds 24-8 in bench points.

Savane led Cloud County with 25 points and 12 rebounds to notch his third double-double in his last four games. Savane was 8-of-15 from the field and 9-of-12 from the foul line. He also had five blocked shots to go with three steals and two assists.

Freshman Syncere Burnette finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three steals. Redshirt freshman Keyon Garrett-Miller added 11 points, while redshirt freshman Matthew Garber chipped in 10 points.

Barton was led by sophomore guard Brent Moss's 24 points and 11 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Fontaine Williams had 19 points, including six three-pointers. Sophomore guard Keandre Kindell had 17 points and four rebounds.

Cloud County continues Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play on Saturday, November 30 when they head to Goodland, Kansas to face Fort Hays Tech Northwest at 3 pm (MST). Fort Hays Tech Northwest is 1-5 overall and 0-3 in conference action. Fort Hays Tech Northwest opened the season with a 92-76 road win over Lamar Community College but has dropped five straight game since, including conference losses to Coffeyville, Hutchinson and Garden City.