Thunderbirds come up short against Cougars, 70-61

Looking to complete the regular season sweep of the Barton Community College Cougars, the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds trimmed an 11-point deficit to just one point, 50-49, when Savian Edwards hit a three-point shot with 5:11 remaining in the game.
Cloud County then had four straight empty offensive possessions, three turnovers and a missed three-point attempt.
Barton scored seven straight points to boost its lead to 57-49 and would not allow the T-Birds to get closer than six points after that in posting a 70-61 Jayhawk Conference win Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County had snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Cougars with a 69-66 win over them on their home floor back on December 8.
Barton would use a 10-0 run early in the game to take a lead it would not surrender in avenging that loss.
A second consecutive loss drops Cloud County to 11-13 overall and 7-11 in conference play.
The T-Birds grabbed an early 5-2 lead in the game.
Barton, 13-10 overall and 7-10 in the conference, scored the next 10 points to go up 12-5.
Cloud County closed the gap to 19-18 when Nate Duckworth scored on a drive with just under eight minutes to play in the first half.
The T-Birds had a chance to take the lead just 27 seconds later, but Malang Athian missed on two free throw attempts.
Cloud County was then outscored 8-2 over the next four and a half minutes and trailed 27-20.
A three-point basket by Athian made it 27-23.
The two teams traded baskets and Barton got two free throws by Josh Jordan and a three-point shot by Trey Bates III to up its lead to 34-25 going into halftime.
Trailing 36-26 early in the second half, the T-Birds got baskets by Athian and Edwards to climb within six points, 36-30.
Evans Kipruto scored inside and Keith Robinson made a three to give the Cougars a 41-30 cushion.
Cloud County would again cut the deficit to six points, 45-39.
Baskets by Cougar Downing and Bates again gave Barton a double-digit lead, 49-39.
Edwards connected on a three for Cloud County.
After Myles Thompson made one of two free throws for Barton, the T-Birds got a bucket by Athian, two free throws by Joe Kearney and three threes by Edwards to pull within a point, 50-49.
While Cloud County would come up empty on its next four possessions, the Cougars got five straight points by Bates and a bucket by Modibo Sanogo to go on top 57-49.
Corey Sawyer Jr. followed up a missed shot to pull Cloud County within six points, 57-51, with just under three minutes to play.
Downing hit a three, and Barton led 60-51.
Cloud County came back within six points, 60-54.
The Cougars made 10 of 12 free throws over the final minute to secure the win.
Cloud County had Duckworth, Athian, Edwards and Zion Obanla score 11 points each.
Bates led Barton with 19 points.
Downing scored 13 points for the Cougars.
Cloud County will play at home for the fourth time in the last five games when it hosts Butler Community College on Wednesday night.