T-Bird grind out win over Mavericks

Shooting the ball well enough from the field to overcome some struggles at the free throw line, the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds capped off the first half of the Jayhawk Conference season with an 86-75 victory over the Northwest Kansas Technical College Mavericks Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County went to the free throw line 44 times in the game, but made just 25 of those attempts for 57 percent.
The T-Birds hit 27 of 50 field goal attempts for 54 percent and were 7 of 16 from three-point range for 44 percent.
In a foul-plagued game, Northwest Tech connected on 34 of 41 free throws for 83 percent but made just 18 of 51 shots from the floor for 35 percent.
“The biggest disappointment for us was the free throw shooting. We have shot the ball pretty well from the line this year and that is one of those where that was keeping them in it by us missing so many. And they were making free throws. Give them credit, they were making free throws to stay in it, and we kind of let them hang around,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said.
Bouncing back from a road loss at Butler Community College, the T-Birds are now 13-5 overall and went 8-4 in the first tour though the Jayhawk Conference.
Cloud County begins the second half of the conference season with a road game at Seward County Community College on Wednesday night.
Northwest Tech had a three-game winning streak halted and is now 7-11 overall and 3-9 on the conference.
The T-Birds and the Mavericks exchanged the lead five times in the first six minutes of the game.
Cloud County, trailing 9-8, got seven points from Isaiah Sy during a 17-6 run.
A basket by Kyle McElroy gave the T-Birds a 25-13 lead with 5:38 to play in the first half.
Northwest Tech made five of six free throws to close the gap to 25-18.
Sy hit a three, and Ja’Ron Briggs Jr., a dunk, to put Cloud County on top, 30-18.
Sy was four of five from three-point range in scoring 17 points. He also pulled down nine rebounds.
Cloud County went on to lead by as many as 13 points, 37-24.
The Mavericks outscored the T-Birds 6-1 over the final 34 seconds of the first half, and a dunk by Dylan Holt as time expired left them trailing just 38-30.
With each team parading to the free throw line, Northwest Tech could get no closer than eight points in the second half.
There were 55 free throws shot over the final 20 minutes: 30 by Cloud County and 25 by the Mavericks.
“They were calling it on both ends. Our guys just have to make the conscious effort to try to keep their hands off,” Kastrup said.
On top 53-43, the T-Birds got baskets by Emmanuel Manyoun and Cheikh Sow and then four straight free throws by Manyoun to make it a 61-43 game.
Manyoun was five of seven from the field and 7 of 11 from the line in scoring 18 points.
Sow also scored 18 points and had a team-best 12 rebounds.
Northwest Tech, which made 22 free throws in the second half, scored 23 points in just over six minutes to close the gap to 76-66.
Cloud County was able to make just enough free throws to keep the Mavericks at bay.
“I really felt like the second half, with all of the fouls, kind of trading free throws back and forth, we just happened to be up eight at halftime and it was enough to win,” Kastrup said.
McElroy scored 14 points for Cloud County and Abdoulaye Fall added 13 points.
Keyishon Miller, who was 15 of 18 from the free throw line, led Northwest Tech with 27 points.
Charles Fofanah scored 22 for the Mavericks and Taiden Conner finished with 11.