T-Birds tumble to Tigers, 69-49

ARKANSAS CITY — Playing a fourth game in eight days, the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds hit an offensive wall in the first half of a road game against the Cowley College Tigers and could not recover.
Trailing 9-7, the T-Birds went 7:23 without scoring as Cowley tossed in 18 straight points to go up 27-7.
Cloud County could get no closer than 14 points as the Tigers avenged an earlier loss with a 69-49 Jayhawk Conference victory Saturday night.
The T-Birds missed seven straight field goal attempts and two free throws and committed two turnovers during that decisive stretch in the first half.
After falling to Dodge City on a last-second shot the previous Saturday, the T-Birds had picked up a road win at Coffeyville Community College on Monday and a home win over 16th-ranked Garden City Community College on Wednesday.
Cloud County, now 13-16 overall and 8-14 in the Jayhawk Conference, will host Colby in its final game of the regular season on Wednesday.
Cowley, 15-14 overall and 11-12 in the conference, scored the first four points of the game and would never trail.
Cloud County was down 9-4 when Joe Kearney hit a three-point shot to close the gap to 9-7 with 11:11 to play in the first half.
The T-Birds would not score again until Kearney scored in the lane more than seven minutes later.
With Raishaun Brown connecting on a pair of three-point field goals, the Tigers rattled off 18 unanswered points to open up a 27-7 advantage.
Cloud County, trailing 32-12, got consecutive baskets by Justin Graham to make it a 32-16 game at halftime.
Malang Athian scored off an offensive rebound in the opening minute of the second half to pull the T-Birds within 14 points, 32-18. That is as close as they would get.
Clarence King hit consecutive three-point shots for Cowley.
Graham scored inside, but Brown buried a three to put the Tigers on top 41-20.
Nate Duckworth connected on a three for Cloud County.
Another three by King, and then a drive by King extended Cowley’s lead to 46-23.
The Tigers hit their first five shots of the second half with four of them being threes.
It was a 48-25 Cowley lead when Kearney scored on a drive and Jalen Smith made a layup.
The two teams traded threes and then Xavier Valley connected on a three to put the Tigers up 54-32.
Kearney scored again for Cloud County.
Scoring eight straight points, Cowley took its biggest lead of the game at 62-34.
The T-Birds were able to outscore the Tigers 15-8 over the final six and a half minutes.
Kearney led Cloud County with 12 points. He was five of nine from the field.
Graham hit five of eight field goal attempts in scoring 10 points.
Zion Obanla added nine points on three of three shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.
The T-Birds shot just 36 percent (19 of 53) from the floor and made just 7 of 14 free throws.
King led three Cowley players in double figures with 18 points.
Brown and Valley scored 16 points each.
The Tigers were 25 of 51 from the field for 49 percent and made 11 of 26 three-point attempts.