T-Birds come up short in bid to upset Cougars, 91-85

GREAT BEND — The Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds didn't go down without a fight.
Seeded 13th in the Region VI Men's Basketball Tournament, the T-Birds were tied with fourth-seeded Barton Community College 85-85 on its home floor with under a minute to play.
Barton scored the final six points of the game to fend off the upset attempt by Cloud County, and posted a 91-85 victory Wednesday night.
Suffering the third loss this season to the Cougars, the T-Birds finished up 10-21.
Barton (23-8) advances to the quarterfinals of the tournament, and will play fifth-seeded Coffeyville on Sunday at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City.
Coffeyville was a 97-63 winner over Dodge City Community College.
In the other first-round games played Wednesday night, Butler Community College downed Garden City Community College 74-56, Hutchinson Community College thumped Allen County Community College 92-54, Independence Community College defeated Seward County Community College 86-74 and Neosho County Community College got past Pratt Community College, 104-90.
Cloud County trailed Barton by as many as 15 points in the first half, but battled back to within six points, 38-32 at halftime.
Trailing 45-39, the T-Birds scored 11 straight points and led 50-45 when Jay Lewis knocked down a three-point shot with 15:13 to play in the game.
Lewis poured in 33 points in the game. The sophomore guard was 13 of 21 from the field, including 6 of 11 from three-point range, and one of two from the free throw line. He also had five rebounds.
Cloud County would go on to lead by as many as nine points, 70-61, with just over nine minutes to play.
A 14-4 spurt gave the Cougars the lead back at 75-74 when Mavrick Gildyard made two free throws with 4:21 on the clock.
Barton answered a basket by Lewis with a layup by Jaheim Holden, and led 77-76.
Lewis went one of two from the line and DJ Sims knocked down a shot to give Cloud County a 79-77 advantage.
Two free throws by Holden tied the game at 79-79.
Lewis scored again to put the T-Birds back up 81-79 with 2:05 left.
Barton tied it with a jumper by Gildyard, but another basket by Lewis gave Cloud County an 83-81 cushion with 1:28 remaining.
Holden made two free throws just 20 seconds later to tie the game again at 83-83.
Cloud County was whistled for a technical foul, and Gildyard knocked down both free throws to put the Cougars up 85-83.
The T-Birds needed just four seconds to pull even again.
Dyelan Reed was fouled with 1:04 left. He made both free throws to make it 85-85.
Barton ran the clock down to 46 seconds, and Gildyard scored to make it 87-85.
A shot to tie by Chad Vincent-Simon wouldn't fall. Holden grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made both free throws to give the Cougars an 89-85 cushion.
Lewis missed on a three-point attempt.
Two free throws by Martin Vogts with 14 seconds on the clock gave Barton the 91-85 victory.
Sims scored 12 points for Cloud County.
Reed finished with 10 points.
The T-Birds shot 48 percent (31 of 64) from the field and 85 percent (11 of 13) from the free throw line.
All five Barton starters scored in double figures led by Gildyard with 25 points.
Holden tossed in 22 points. Vogts finished with 12 points. Anthony Atkinson-Enneking scored 11 and Diovonte Caldwell added 10.
The Cougars were 26 of 64 from the field for 41 percent. They shot a whopping 43 free throws in the game, and made 35 of them for 81 percent.
Cloud County trailed the Cougars 28-13 nine minutes into the game.
The T-Birds gave up just eight points over the final 10:49 of the first half, and scored 19 to get within six points, 38-32.
The two teams exchanged runs throughout the second half, and the Cougars pulled away in the closing minutes.