Dodge City clips T-Birds, 82-80 

DODGE CITY — A showdown between two ranked teams for the top spot in the Jayhawk Conference wasn’t decided until the final possession.
When Joe Kearney’s half-court heave as time expired bounced off of the backboard and the rim, the ninth-ranked Dodge City Community College Conquistadors held on to defeat the 21st-ranked Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds 82-80 Monday night in the Student Activities Center.
Dodge City, 11-2 overall, will go into the semester break in first place in the Jayhawk Conference at 7-1.
Cloud County, 10-4 overall, suffered its second consecutive conference road loss and is a game back of the Conquistadors at 6-2.
“Dodge deserved to win. Dodge earned the win. That is a very talented team, and that was a championship level game that our guys played hard in,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said.
Trailing Dodge City by 14 points, 64-50, with just under 11 minutes to play in the game, the T-Birds would start to chip away at the deficit.
A basket by Kearney and a three-point play by Malang Athian got Cloud County within nine points, 64-55.
Dodge City pushed the lead back to 12 points, 73-61.
In a span of 58 seconds, the T-Birds got a basket by Justin Graham, a three-point shot by Athian and a layup by Graham to close the gap to 73-68.
Jacobi Sebock scored for Dodge City, but Athian completed a three-point play and Cloud County trailed just 75-71 with 3:55 to play.
The two teams traded baskets.
DJ Jones scored on a drive and Avnoor Bhullar followed up a missed shot to give the Conquistadors an 81-73 advantage with 2:21 on the clock.
Kearney hit a three, the T-Birds got a defensive stop, and Graham scored on a drive to make it an 81-78 game with 1:26 remaining.
Sebock went one of two from the free throw line 21 seconds later, and Dodge City led 82-78.
Cheikh Sow drove to the basket and scored to get Cloud County within two points, 82-80.
The T-Birds forced a turnover, but Kearny was unable to connect on a three-point shot that would have given them the lead.
Jason Edwards was fouled with 4.4 seconds left. He missed both free throw attempts.
Cloud County rebounded the second miss, got the ball to Kearney, but his half-court shot bounced off as time ran out.
“We made our run, and then it becomes a tight game and we just don’t make that one play we need to get over the top to win,” Kastrup said.
Kearney led four Cloud County players in double figures with 21 points. He also had five assists.
Athian and Sawyer scored 17 points each for the T-Birds.
Graham finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Sow had 11 rebounds to go with six points.
Dodge City had five players score in double figures, led by Sebock who came off the bench to toss in 20 points.
Bhullar and Edwards scored 16 points each. Chris Robinson scored 13 points and Cam Malray added 10 points.
Cloud County got out to an 8-3 lead in the game.
A 16-5 spurt put Dodge City up 19-13.
Scoring seven straight points, five by Kearney, the T-Birds went back up 20-19.
The Conquistadors outscored Cloud County 14-6 over the next five minutes, and led 33-26.
Cloud County scored the next eight points, six by Sawyer, and led 34-33.
Trailing 36-35, the Conquistadors scored eight points in the final 1:37 of the first half to go on top to stay, 43-36.
Falling behind by 14 points in the second half, the T-Birds rallied to within two points, but were unable to overtake Dodge City.
The T-Birds are now off until January 4 when they play a conference game at Coffeyville Community College.
“The Jayhawk is so grueling and college basketball is so difficult that I think our guys do need a break,” Kastrup said.