DODGE CITY, Kan. - The Dodge City Community College men's basketball team couldn't find a way down the stretch to put away Cloud County Community College in an 81-75 home loss in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference opener at the Student Activities Center in Dodge City on Saturday, November 12th. 

DC3 is now 3-1 on the year and 0-1 in the KJCCC while the Cloud County stays perfect and improves to 5-0 and 1-0 in the KJCCC. 

The Conquistadors would start just 5-16 from the field in the opening 10 minutes of the game to fall behind 20-14 at the media timeout. After scoring the opening basket of the game, Cloud would hit an open three to take a 3-2 lead and lead for the rest of the half, building up a lead as large as 13 points. Trailing 30-17 with 5:25 remaining in the first half, Dodge City would close to within five points on a Josh Boutte free throw with 1:57 remaining in the half before the T'Birds would close out the half with five straight points to take a 40-30 lead thanks in part to 12 points off of 11 DC3 turnovers. 

An upstart second half saw the Conqs score 13 of the first 15 points to take a 43-40 lead on a Trevon Evans fre throw and lead up until the media timeout with 9:54 remaining in the game (54-53 Cloud County). The next five minutes of action would be back and forth betwen both squads before Cloud would start to pull away, building up a seven point lead with 4:12 left in regulation. DC3 would chip away at the T'Bird lead and cut the deficit to 76-74 with 1:37 remaining on a Mike Jones fast-break layup, but would not get any closer as Cloud County would hit free throws on their end with Dodge City not being able to find a much needed bucket. 

"We played well in the first eight minutes of the second half, but dug ourselves a hole in the first half and couldn't handle their pressure well" said head coach Kyle Campbell in a post-game interview. "I told our guys that we aren't as good of team as they think they are and we have a lot of growing up to do." "Our guys have to trust each other more when their on the floor instead of trying to make plays themselves."

DC3 hit 26 of 64 shots from the field (40.6%), but shot only 14.3 percent from beyond the arc (3-21). The Conqs would be guilty of 17 turnovers compared to only 10 for Cloud, but would hold a 43-43 advantage on the glass. 

Individually, Boutte would record yet another double-double by finishing with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Trevon Evans would finish with 11 points in his first action of the season and add four rebounds while Kourtney Ware had 18 points and one steal. Trey Grundy III would also find himself in double figures by scoring 10 points and adding five assists and six rebounds in 32 minutes of action. 

A chance to rebound awaits the Conquistadors on Wednesday, Nov. 16th at Pratt Community College. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and all the action can be heard live on 1550 AM the Sports Hound in Dodge City or online at conqsports.com. Damon Post will-have the play-by-play.