T-Birds drop KWU JV 101-69, improve to 3-0
PRATT — A balanced Cloud County Community College men's basketball team picked up its third win in four days by rolling past the Kansas Wesleyan University junior varsity 101-69 in the Pratt Classic on Sunday.
Cloud County (3-0), coming off a victory over Next Level Hoops Academy in the opening night of the classic on Saturday, had five players score in double figures in the win over Kansas Wesleyan.
“I'm really happy with, and excited about the mentality of the team right now. We have a deep rotation where every guy on the team can contribute in a different way. We're happy for each other. We have 11 guys playing for each other right now, and that's always great to see as a coach,” Cloud County coach Jordan Altman said.
Jerome Kidd Jr. came off the bench to score 21 points for the Thunderbirds. He connected on 7 of 10 field goal attempts.
Sophomore guard Alvin Thompson, the leading returning scorer for Cloud County had 19 points, four rebounds and five assists.
“We're really trying to push him (Thompson) and force him to make the jump from a freshman to a sophomore player,” Altman said, “Physically he's been ready since day one. He needs to continue to make strides as a cerebral basketball player, and we saw a lot of that out of him. He made adjustments, didn't make similar mistakes and really went after the rim.”
Freshman forward Edoardo Del Cadia chipped in 13 points and five rebounds.
Ademtomi Ayilara was five of six from the floor in scoring 12 points.
Freshman guard Nysir Scott added 11 points.
Gabe Pieschl, a freshman forward, scored eight points and pulled down eight rebounds.
Cloud County freshman, Iyen Enaruna, also scored eight points.
The T-Birds raced to a 54-33 lead on the Coyotes.
Cloud County tacked on 47 points in the second half to 36 for Kansas Wesleyan.
The T-Birds shot 50 percent (38 of 76) from the field and made 24 of 33 free throws for 73 percent.
Kansas Wesleyan went to the line just 11 times and made five of those.
Cloud County was just 1 of 11 from three-point range.
“To be honest I am a little dumbfounded by our three-point percentage right now. That was a big focus of our postgame conversation. I can't think of a guy on the team that I wouldn't let shoot a three-pointer. It's just something we need to focus on the next couple of days and get ready to head down to Council Bluffs, Iowa,” Altman said.
The T-Birds will continue its seven-game road swing to open the season at the Hampton Inn Reiver Classic hosted by Iowa Western Community College. They will play Dakota College at Bottineau at 3 p.m. Friday and Des Moines Area Community College at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“We're going to play two very talented and well coached NJCAA Division II teams,” Altman said, “We're going to have to play extremely well and efficiently to beat both of those teams. It'll be good for us to really test ourselves in an unfamiliar environment. It should be a good weekend for us as long as we come prepared to take on two teams that are going to execute, play hard and defend for 40 minutes.”