OTTUMWA, IOWA — Kicking off the season on the road for the Meridian Credit Union Classic hosted by Indian Hills Community College, the Cloud County men’s basketball team went 1-1 on the trip up north.
In the first match of the trip on Friday, the T-Birds defeated William Penn JV 116-64. The first five minutes of the first half was a back-and-forth duel with Cloud holding a 13-11 lead at the 15:37 mark. Going forward, the T-Bird lead soared with an 18-5 run over the next five minutes, and the T-Bird lead got as high as 29 with a score of 49-20 with 5:07 remaining in the first. Cloud ended the first half with a 61-30 lead, fueled by 15 points from Al Brooks Jr. and 11 other T-Birds scoring in the half. The T-Birds paced the rest of the game, getting the lead up to 40 just past the halfway point of the second half, up to 50 with 6:51 remaining, and the highest lead of the game, 56 points, with 5:41 remaining and a few more times before winning the first game of the season 116-64.
Brooks Jr. and Kam Williams led in scoring for the T-Birds with 16 points. Brooks also had 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Williams also had 2 steals. Manasseh Stackhouse had 15 points and 6 rebounds. Ikee Brooks and D’ontez Walker each had 10 points. Brooks had 5 rebounds and Walker had 4 steals. Fifteen T-Birds saw the court in the season opener.
In the final match of the trip, the T-Birds fell to the number 13-ranked Indian Hills 94-80. After 4 minutes of action the game was tied at 6, before the Warriors started to run away with the game, building a double-digit lead with 12:45 remaining in the first thanks to a 12-1 run, and the lead never went below double figures for the rest of the game. Cloud would get the lead back down to 10 (from 19) with 5:27 and 4:30 remaining in the first, before Indian Hills went into halftime with a 54-33 lead. After hovering around that 20-30 point lead, getting as high as 29 with 8:57 remaining as the Warriors led 74-45, Cloud closed the game with a 35-20 run to get the final score of 94-80.
Brooks Jr. led in points with 26 and rebounds with 12, and had a block and an assist. Elidjah Savane had 15 points, 8 rebounds, a block and a steal. Walker had 11 points and 4 rebounds.
The men’s team will travel to West Burlington, Iowa, for the Midwest JUCO Classic hosted by Southeastern Community College, with the T-Birds facing off with State Fair Community College (MO) and Missouri State-West Plains. Game times are 3:00 p.m. Friday and 12:00 p.m. Saturday.
