T-Birds race past Pirates, 87-48

Everybody got involved as the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds cruised to an 87-48 Jayhawk Conference victory over the Independence Community College Pirates Wednesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
All 11 players in uniform got playing time, and nine of them scored as Cloud County bounced back from a loss at 12th-ranked Indians Hills Community College on Saturday to pick up a win over Independence in the first home game following semester break.
Cloud County had five players score in double figures.
Sophomore Cheikh Sow finished with 14 points, 15 rebounds and six assists. He made three of five field goal attempts and 8 of 12 free throws.
Abdoulaye Fall also scored 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting.
Isaiah Sy hit four of five three-point attempts and finished with 13 points.
Prentice Young Jr. made all four of his shots from the floor and all three free throws in scoring 12 points.
Emmanuel Manyoun added 11 points.
"Everybody got involved, and the other piece I was very happy with is we had only one guy with double-digit shot attempts. What that tells me is everybody was doing their job and everybody was sharing the ball. I really like that. That is the thing that sticks out to me the most," Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said.
Cloud County, 10-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play, trailed only once in the game at 3-2.
The game was tied at 5-5 when the T-Birds went on a 9-0 run that Sy capped off with a three to make it 14-5 with 12:55 to play in the first half.
Cory Curtis Jr. scored for Independence to make it a 14-7 game.
A three by Manyoun started an 11-3 Cloud County spurt that upped the lead to 25-10.
Independence, now 1-12 overall and 0-7 in the conference after suffering 12 consecutive losses,  got three-point baskets by Curtis Jr., K'Shawn Latty and Trey Stanback as it outscored Cloud County 9-4 over the next 2:30 to get within 10 points, 29-19.
Cloud County tossed in 13 points over the final five minutes of the first half.
The Pirates scored just two points during that stretch.
A three-point basket by Sy in the final seconds of the half gave the T-Birds a 42-21 cushion.
Young Jr. connected on a three early in the second half, and Cloud County led 45-21.
Independence would get as close as 20 points, 47-27.
Scoring the next six points, the T-Birds were on top 55-27.
Back-to-back baskets left the Pirates trailing 55-32.
Cloud County answered with eight straight points to make it 63-32.
"The game was going to be what we allowed it to be. If we allowed it to be sloppy and close then it was going to be sloppy and close. And if we decided to put it away then we decided to put it away," Kastrup said.
Cloud County would go up by as many as 46 points on its way to the win.
The T-Birds shot 53 percent (30 of 57) from the field, 54 percent (7 of 13) from three-point range and 77 percent (20 of 26) from the free throw line.
Curtis Jr. led Independence with 14 points.
"Did Independence play their best game, no. Did we play our best game? Absolutely not. There were a ton of things I was unhappy with. But at the end of the day we defended and got the job done." Kastrup said.
Cloud County is on the road to play Pratt Community College in a conference game Saturday afternoon.