CCCC Athletics
Matt Kinney
CONCORDIA, Kan. – Following a slow start, the Cloud County Community College men’s basketball team would find their groove and cruise to a season-opening 120-60 home victory over the Tabor College JV team inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 20th.
CCCC is now 3-1 overall in season openers under fourth-year head coach Jordan Altman with Wednesday’s victory coming as the largest margin of victory in the past four seasons.
Cloud County would face an early deficit off an opening three from the Blue Jays before battling back to take a 4-3 lead on a David Acosta dunk with 17:46 left in the first half as the T-Birds would respond with 13 straight points to go up double-digits. A four-point spurt by Tabor would bring the score back within six at 13-7 before seeing Cloud County get out in transition to score three quick buckets to go up 12 at 19-7 and force a timeout by the Blue Jays.
The T-Birds would continue to build on their lead throughout the first half as points would come at will with Tabor struggling from the field and settling for deep shots that would lead to transition opportunities for CCCC. Cloud County’s lead would reach the 20-point mark on a Dimitrius Hawkins triple with 4:35 left in the opening period as the margin would get as large as 56-26 in the waning moments before a Tabor triple with seven seconds before halftime put the score at 56-29 going into the break.
In the second half, Cloud County would look to put things away early by scoring the first six points of the second half and 21 of the first 25 as the lead would grow to 77-33 with just under 15 minutes left in the game. The lead would allow for multiple players to see their first collegiate action for CCCC as everyone who suited up for the T-Birds would find their way into the game. A Travis Beetch layup with 5:49 remaining would eclipse the century mark for the T-Birds as 22 of the final 27 points would be scored by Cloud County to put up their second-highest point total since January 8th, 2014.
Shooting an efficient 66.7 percent from the floor, Cloud County would connect on 50-of-75 attempts from the floor which included a nine-of-17 effort (52.9 percent) effort from beyond the arc while holding comfortable advantages in all facets of the game. The T-Birds were an astounding plus-41 in the rebounding margin (58-17) which included 16 offensive rebounds and had 26 assists on their 50 made baskets. 61 of the 120 points scored by the T-Birds came from bench players while also putting up 26 second-chance points and 22 points off turnovers.
Leading all scorers in the game was freshman Jack Doumbia as the freshman poured in 27 points in 17 minutes of action while going 10-for-14 from the field and grabbing four rebounds to go along with two assists, two blocks, and two steals. Sophomore Dyelan Reed find his stroke from beyond the arc to connect on two of his three triple attempts while adding 14 points with Ibrahim Drame (15 points) and Timitrius Hawkins (11 points) both getting to double-figures. All-15 T-Bird players who played would score in the game, with all 15 seeing at least five minutes of action in the contest.