Cloud County picks up road win

COFFEYVILLE — The Cloud County Thunderbirds have done plenty well in the early stages of the season, and playing defense is at the top of the list.
That trend continued as the 24th-ranked T-Birds stymied the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens on their way to a 63-43 Jayhawk Conference road victory Tuesday night.
Cloud County, which leads the nation in scoring defense allowing just 51 points per game, limited a Coffeyville team averaging over 84 points per contest, to just 21 percent (10 of 47) shooting from the field, including 16 percent (5 of 31) from three-point range, and forced 18 turnovers.
"I still don't feel like we are playing it (defense) to our max capability, but I would say our identity since I have gotten here to Cloud is our defense," Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said. "I feel like that has continued as a strength. The difference this year is we have some length and athleticism at all positions which has enabled us to kind of make up for mistakes."
The T-Birds improved to 7-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference with the win.
Cris Carroll hit one of the Red Ravens' three-point baskets two minutes into the game that gave them a 5-3 lead.
Coffeyville then went over seven minutes without scoring.
Cloud County pumped in 11 points during that stretch to go on top to stay, 14-5.
Jahni Summers ended Coffeyville's scoring drought by making one of two free throws with 10:36 remaining in the first half to close the gap to 14-6.
A basket by Bol Agu, a three-point shot by Abdoulaye Fall and a jumper by Emmanuel Manyoun gave Cloud County a 21-6 advantage.
Coffeyville, 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, would trim the deficit to 11 points, 23-12.
Isaiah Sy buried a three and Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. made two free throws to put the T-Birds up 28-12.
Scoring the next six points, the Red Ravens trailed 28-16.
The two teams traded baskets over the final three minutes of the first half.
Cloud County got up by as many as 16 points and led 33-19 at halftime.
Coffeyville made just 4 of 26 field goal attempts for 15 percent in that opening 20 minutes and was just 1 of 15 from three-point range.
A jumper by Cheikh Sow just 12 seconds into the second half upped Cloud County's lead to 35-19.
Summers hit a three for Coffeyville, but the T-Birds answered with five straight points by Sow to give them a 40-22 cushion.
Sow led all scorers with 16 points. He was 6 of 12 from the field and two of two from the free throw line and also grabbed eight rebounds.
It was a 45-28 Cloud County lead when Coffeyville got a three by Brian Griffith and a basket by Izek Jackson to pull to within 12 points, 45-33, with 8:33 remaining in the game.
Two free throws each by Manyoun and Agu and a three-point basket by Briggs made it a 52-33 Cloud County lead.
Coffeyville could get no closer than 15 points over the final seven minutes.
"It is rare for a team to go into Coffeyville and win. They really make you earn it," Kastrup said. "I thought our guys weathered the storm."
Briggs Jr. and Agu scored 11 points each for Cloud County.
The T-Birds were 17 of 46 from the field for 37 percent. They made 8 of 31 three-point attempts for 38 percent and 21 of 26 free throws for 81 percent.
Carroll, with 14 points, was the only Coffeyville player to score in double figures.
Cloud County hosts eighth-ranked Barton Community College at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Barton is 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference after a 96-73 win over Pratt Community College on Tuesday.
"They (Barton) are currently the number one offense in our league," Kastrup said. "It will be a really good one. We probably won't have a lot of students there so as many community people as we can get out there, that is what we need."