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T-Birds slay seventh-ranked Blue Dragons, 72-64

With several Cloud County Community College students donned in colorful Christmas attire setting the tone, it was a festive atmosphere in Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
But the Cloud County Thunderbirds were not in a giving mood.
Cloud County scored the final eight points of the game to upset the seventh-ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons, 72-64.
It was the second straight year that the T-Birds have knocked off a ranked Hutchinson team.
Cloud County stunned the number one ranked Blue Dragons 82-79 in overtime last year.
“We told the guys that this might be a little different than last year. It was going to come down to Jim versus Joe and not X's and O's. Our Jim showed up and beat their Joes tonight. It wasn't a whole lot of schematics,” Cloud County coach Jordan Altman said.
Cloud County has won three straight games to improve to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the Jayhawk Conference heading into the semester break.
“I think our guys understand why I was so upset after the Garden City loss now. This win shows our potential. Much like last year, we have a standard to hold them to now,” Altman said.
In a game that was tight throughout, the T-Birds took a 62-59 lead when Alvin Thompson made two free throws with 2:08 remaining.
Hutchinson, now 12-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference, got two free throws by D.J. Mitchell and one by Saquan Singleton to pull even at 62-62.
Alvin Thompson knocked down a pair of free throws, and Cloud County led 64-62.
Two free throws by James Rojas pulled the Blue Dragons even once again, 64-64, with 50 seconds on the clock.
Nysir Scott drove to the basket and scored 10 seconds later to put the T-Birds up 66-64.
Hutchinson got the ball to Rojas in the paint, but his shot was blocked and Cloud County's Edoardo Del Cadia came up with the ball and was fouled.
Del Cadia made both free throws to push the lead to 68-64 with 25 seconds left.
Rojas missed on a three-point attempt, and Del Cadia was fouled again. He made the first free throw, but missed the second.
The ball went out of bounds off a Hutchinson player.
Del Cadia took the inbounds pass in the corner, and instead of trying to run out the clock, he hit a three-point shot with 12 seconds to play that made it a 72-64 game.
“That's Edoardo for you when his confidence is going he's one of the best junior college players in the country. He has every chance to play at the highest level of basketball and he showed it,” Altman said.
Hutchinson was unable to score at the other end, and the T-Birds ran out the clock on another upset of the Blue Dragons.
Thompson, who hit 10 of 11 free throws attempts, led Cloud County with 23 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds.
Del Cadia came off the bench to score 20 points and pull down 16 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play.
Scott added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The T-Birds hit 22 of 68 field goal attempts for 32 percent, and made 23 of 27 free throws for 85 percent, including 15 of 18 in the second half.
Rojas scored 19 points for Hutchinson.
Mitchell finished with 14 points and Singleton added 12.
The Blue Dragons shot just 30 percent (18 of 60) from the floor and were 24 of 35 from the line for 69 percent.
Cloud County owned the biggest lead of the first half, 14-10.
There were nine lead changes and four ties.
A long three-point shot by Thompson as time ran out gave Cloud County a 34-31 advantage.
Hutchinson would pull even at 38-38 early in the second half.
Thompson scored five points during an 8-2 spurt by the T-Birds that made it a 46-40 game.
The Blue Dragons scored the next six points to tie it at 46-46.
Cloud County would go up 54-51 only to have Hutchinson get a three by Mitchell and a layup by Rhaquone Taylor to go back on top, 56-54.
With the T-Birds trailing 57-56, Del Cadia made four straight free throws to give them the lead back at 60-57.
It was a 62-59 lead when Mitchell and Singleton went three of four from the line combined to pull Hutchinson even at 62-62.
That set up the frantic final minute that resulted in the Cloud County win.
“For me, it was our attitude in the huddle. We had a couple of late timeouts there and the guys were still excited, didn't have any doubts and didn't question themselves at all,” Altman said, “I felt a couple of times I didn't say enough in the timeouts. It was just 'get back out there and finish this game.' Those guys deserve all the credit. They believed in themselves.”
The T-Birds don't return to action until January 5 with a road trip to Goodland to play Northwest Kansas Technical College.

 

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