Cold-shooting T-Birds drop opener to Knights, 68-56

Plagued by the inability to consistently knock down shots, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team fell behind early and could never catch back up in suffering a 68-56 loss to North Platte Community College in the season opener for both teams Tuesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County shot just 34 percent (23 of 67) from the field in the game.
The Thunderbirds hit just 3 of 24 three-point attempts for 13 percent and 7 of 14 free throws.
“We hit the trifecta of bad shooting. We missed 20 layups, seven free throws and 21 threes,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said. “Offensively, I felt like we created a lot of great opportunities. You have got to make them to win the game. You have got to put the ball in the hole. When we are missing shots it is hard to play defense at the level we are capable of when they are just constantly running at us instead of taking the ball out of the basket.”
Cloud County led just once in the game at 2-1.
Five straight points by Ramiah Adedigba put North Platte on top to stay, 6-2.
Adedigba poured in 29 points for the Knights. He was 12 of 21 from the field including three of five from three-point range.
“He made some really tough shots. He made shots that we were willing to concede in our defense,” Kastrup said of Adedigba. “We knew going in he was going to be a gunner and he did a really good job.”
It was a 6-5 game when North Platte used an 11-3 run to go up 17-8.
Baskets by Joe Kearney, Corey Sawyer and Kyle McElroy pulled Cloud County within three points, 17-14, with 8:50 to play in the first half.
Sawyer, a sophomore returnee, scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the T-Birds.
Kearney added 11 points.
No other Cloud County player scored more than nine points.
“In junior college especially, every year is a new year. Even though we have four starters back, the other four who played are brand new. And so it is a brand new group trying to jell and figure it out. In some years that takes longer than others,” Kastrup said.
North Platte would push the lead to eight points, 28-20.
The Knights were up 30-24 at halftime.
Adedigba scored the first four points of the second half to give the Knights a 34-24 advantage.
Cloud County got a three by freshman Cheikh Sow and two free throws by Sawyer to make it a 34-29 game.
An 8-1 spurt extended North Platte's lead to 42-30 with just under 16 minutes to play.
Sow, Kearney and Andre Gray II scored, and Cloud County trailed by just six points, 42-36.
North Platte got baskets by Adedigba and Bruce Carpenter in a span of 40 seconds, and led 46-36.
A basket by Justin Graham left the T-Birds trailing 46-38. That is as close as they would get over the final nine minutes.
A follow by Josh Townley-Thomas and a three-point basket by Adedigba put the Knights on top, 51-38.
North Platte would push the lead to 15 points.
Attempting to make a late run, the T-Birds got within nine points, 63-54, on a follow by Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. with 1:43 on the clock.
The Knights hit five of six free throws over the final 54 seconds to secure the win.
Jevarrick Butler scored 11 points for North Platte and Carpenter added 10.
The T-Birds travel to Ottumwa, Iowa, to play in the RV & Power Sport Classic on Friday and Saturday.
Cloud County plays host and third-ranked Indian Hills Community College on Friday and Iowa Lakes Community College on Saturday.