T-Birds rally past Trojans in the regular season finale, 59-55

The Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds rallied from nine points down with just over three minutes to play to defeat the Colby Community College Trojans 59-55 in the regular season finale and set up a rubber match between the two teams in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament.
Colby won the first of the two Jayhawk Conference games on its home floor back on January 15.
Cloud County got a basket by Savian Edwards and three free throws by Corey Sawyer Jr. in the final  7.8 seconds to pull out the win in the rematch.
The T-Birds finished the regular season at 14-16 overall and 10-14 in conference play, and are seeded ninth in the Region VI Tournament. They will play at eighth-seeded Colby, 15-14 overall and 10-13 in the conference, in the conference opener at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“We will make some adjustments, but at the end of the day it is going to be 40 minutes and which group of guys plays better. It is going to be who can take advantage of the opportunities given. Anything can can happen in playoff basketball,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said.
Colby, which led Cloud County 25-24 at halftime, extended their advantage to 52-43 when Ahmad Johnson scored with 3:06 remaining.
Savian Edwards hit a three for the T-Birds, and Colby got a bucket by JJ White.
A three by Joe Kearney pulled Cloud County within five points, 54-49.
Nate Duckworth, following a turnover by the Trojans, hit the first of two free throws. He missed the second but Kearney grabbed the offensive rebound.
Kearney's follow attempt wouldn’t fall, and it was a 54-50 game.
Cloud  County got a defensive stop, Corey Sawyer Jr. drove to the basket and then scored to close the gap to 54-52 with 36 seconds left.
Ronald Mitchell, the Trojans’ leading scorer, was fouled nine seconds later. He made one of two free throws to make it 55-52.
A basket by Duckworth got the T-Birds within a point, 55-54, with 18 seconds remaining.
Mitchell was fouled with no time coming off the clock. He missed on the front end of a one-and-one opportunity.
Cloud County called timeout with 12 seconds left.
Following the timeout, Edwards drove the lane and scored to give the T-Birds a 56-55 lead with 7.8 seconds on the clock.
“Savian made a couple of major plays to help us win. He hit that three to bring it back within striking distance. He gets a loose ball and then obviously hits the winner,” Kastrup said.
With time running out, Mitchell attempted to drive to the basket, but Cloud County was able to force a jump ball with one second left.
Colby coach Rusty Elmore was whistled for two technical fouls and ejected from the game.
Because of the ejection, Elmore will not be able to coach in the tournament game on Saturday.
Sawyer Jr. made three of the four technical free throws to make the final score 59-55.
“For 35 minutes I thought Colby was a better basketball team, but we made plays that we needed to make at the end. And we played great defense the entire game,” Kastrup said.
Sawyer Jr. was 6 of 13 from the field and 11 of 12 from the free throw line in scoring a game-high 25 points. He also had 12 rebounds.
“Corey Sawyer had a massive game,” Kastrup said.
Kearney added 18 points for the T-Birds.
No other Cloud County player scored more than five points.
Ahmad Johnson led Colby with 16 points. White scored 10.
Cloud County led by as many as five points in the early going.
Colby used a 13-5 to go on top 18-15.
The Trojans would not trail again until the final seconds.
Cloud County would pull even at 20-20, but trailed by a point at halftime.
The T-Birds would again tie things up at 31-31 on a three by Sawyer two minutes into the second half.
It was a 36-25 game when Colby used a 16-8 spurt to take its biggest lead at 52-43.
The Edwards three then started the Cloud County comeback.