Pirates fend off T-Birds, 73-71

Forcing two turnovers and scoring six points in 26 seconds, the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds gave themselves a couple of chances in the final minute to either tie or take the lead against the Independence Community College Pirates.
Turning the ball over twice in the final 20 seconds, the T-Birds had those chances slip away as they fell 73-71 to the Pirates in a Jayhawk Conference matchup Wednesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Independence took a 73-65 lead when Kam Parker hit one of two free throws with 1:14 to play in the game.
Ja'Ron Briggs Jr. connected on two free throws 14 seconds later to pull Cloud County within six points, 73-67.
Applying full-court pressure, the T-Birds got a steal and layup by Joe Kearney.
Independence turned the ball over again against the Cloud County pressure, and Andre Gray II drew a foul.
Gray II made both free throws to make it a 73-71 game with 34 seconds on the clock.
“Let's give our kids credit, they never stop playing. They go until the final whistle,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said. “When we were down eight we said we needed to go and try and force a couple of turnovers and put a press on. And we forced two and got two scores and all of sudden it is a two-point game.”
The T-Birds fouled Josh Smith with 26 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one.
With a chance to pull even or grab a lead, Cloud County committed a turnover.
Famoius French was fouled with 12.9 seconds to play. He was unable to connect from the line, and Briggs Jr. pulled down the rebound.
The T-Birds called a timeout with 9.9 seconds remaining.
Looking for a shot to at least tie the game, the T-Birds turned the ball over again and time ran out.
“You turn the ball over and don't get a shot. You can't turn the ball over there,” Kastrup said.
Cloud County, now 12-9 overall and 8-7 in conference play, had three players score in double figures, led by Kearney with 22 points.
Malang Athian scored 19 points and Corey Sawyer added 10 points.
Johan Nziemi led Independence with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Smith scored 18 points for the Pirates and Melvyn Ebonkoli finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
“They have two Division I bigs (Nziemi and Ebonkoli) that just absolutely killed us,” Kastrup said. “They just got incredibly easy ones all game.”
Cloud County was playing without starter Cheikh Sow, who is out with an hand injury.
“When you lose Cheikh Sow, and you can't play him, you lose more length to throw at those guys (Nziemi and Ebonkoli), and so we had to go smaller. And then Justin Graham fouls out. They were physical and they just beat us up next to the rim.”
Independence, 7-13 overall and 5-9 in the conference, jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the game.
Cloud County chipped away at the deficit, and took a 30-29 lead when Kearney scored with 5:35 to play in the first half.
Gray II answered a three by Smith with a triple of his own, and the T-Birds led 33-32.
Cloud County went the final 3:58 of the first half without scoring.
Independence tossed in eight points to go up 40-33 at halftime.
The Pirates had a response for each run the T-Birds threw at them in the second half.
Trailing 64-54, the T-Birds got a dunk by Graham, two free throws by Sawyer and another bucket by Graham to make it a 64-60 game.
Independence pushed the lead to eight points, 73-65, before Cloud County made one final push that fell just short.
“I sound like a broken record, but all I can ask for in the Jayhawk is to have a chance at the very end,” Kastrup said. “Do I wish we had played better, absolutely. Could we play better, absolutely.”
Cloud County is off for a week before traveling to Liberal for a rematch with Seward County Community College next Wednesday.