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T-Birds halt skid with 78-75 win over Red Devils

IOLA — It wasn't until a last second three-point attempt bounced off the rim that the Cloud County Thunderbirds had snapped a five-game losing skid with a hard fought 78-75 Jayhawk Conference East Division win over Allen County Thursday night.
The game, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday night but was postponed because of inclement weather, was tight throughout.
There were nine lead changes and four ties in the second half.
Four straight points by Alvin Thompson put Cloud County on top to stay, 68-64, with just under five minutes to play.
Allen County would pull within a point, 72-71.
A basket by Iyen Enaruna and two free throws by DJ Sims gave the T-Birds a 76-71 cushion.
Enaruna came off the bench to lead a balanced Cloud County attack with 11 points.
“He realized late in the second half that they couldn't keep him away from the basket,” Cloud County Jordan Altman said of Enaruna, “He needed to get back to his comfort zone with his back to basket, and he scored some big points that picked everything up for us.”
Jamaal Clifton went one of two from the free throw line and Trez Hankins knocked down a three-point shot to pull Allen County within a point, 76-75, with 45 seconds remaining in the game.
Cloud County ran the shot clock down before missing on a shot.
A three-point attempt by Clifton was off the mark, and the ball went out of bounds to the T-Birds with three seconds on the clock.
Sims was then fouled with two seconds to play. The freshman guard made both free throws to give Cloud County a 78-75 advantage.
Perry Carroll got a good look at a three-point shot to tie the game as the buzzer sounded, but it bounced off the rim.
It was the T-Birds' first win since a 73-66 victory at Northwest Kansas Technical College back on January 5.
Cloud County is now 11-10 overall and 5-7 in the Jayhawk East.
“That was certainly a must-win for us. We had to find a way to get our confidence back,” Altman said, “Allen County is a very good win for us. They have a talented front line, and I thought we did a really good job of slowing them down for the most part. It was a team effort.”
Jerome Kidd Jr. came of the bench to hit four of five field goal attempts and score 10 points for the T-Birds.
Thompson also finished with 10 points.
Sims, Adetomi Ayilara and Brayden Day scored eight points each.
“Jerome has really come through for us the last couple of games, and it was nice to see Alvin get going again,” Altman said, “As a coach, seeing seven guys score eight or more points always makes you happy.”
The T-Birds shot 46 percent (27 of 59) from the field and made 20 of 27 free throws for 74 percent. They limited the Red Devils to 32 percent shooting (20 of 63).
Clifton led Allen County with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Darius Love scored 15 points for the Red Devils. Hankins finished with 12 points and Carroll added 11.
Cloud County got out to a quick 8-2 lead in the game.
Allen County, 12-7 overall and 4-6 in the conference, battled back to go up 9-8.
An 11-2 run gave the T-Birds then lead back at 19-11.
The Red Devils whittled away at the deficit, and reclaimed the lead at 36-35 on a follow by Clifton.
Allen County led 41-37 at halftime.
A 10-2 spurt to open the second half put Cloud County back on top, 47-43.
The two teams would then go back and forth over the final 16 minutes with either leading by more than four points.
There were five lead changes during one two-minute stretch before Thompson put the T-Birds on top to stay.
“Part of the problem with losing is sometimes you point the finger at something the other team did or sometimes at yourself. We'd been pointing the finger at ourselves the last couple of games,” Altman said, “Now we can get back to worrying about our opponents, and try to take them out of their game instead of solely focusing on us getting back to our game.”
Cloud County hosts Independence Community College on Saturday night.

 

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