Dodge City men's basketball picked up a big KJCCC win over a ranked Cloud County Thunderbird team taking down the #25 Thunderbirds 89-87 in overtime.
The win moves the Conquistadors to 5-6 on the season and 3-2 in KJCCC play and marks the second straight win in the series with the Thunderbirds. The Conqs have won six of the last seven meetings with Cloud County.
The game would be a see-saw affair with both teams owning leads throughout the contest. Back-and-forth it would go throughout the first half remaining a one-possession game until just under six minutes left in the first half. The Conqs would go on an 8-0 run to lead 28-21. That lead would hold up until a Cloud County tied the game up at 32-32 with 45 seconds remaining in the first half and then the Thunderbirds got a pair of free throws just before the end of the half to lead 36-34 at intermission. The second half would see the teams trade the lead back-and-forth throughout with neither team establishing a big lead. Tied at 70 Cloud County would mount an 8-2 run to take control and own their largest lead of the game at 78-72. The Conqs would push back drawing to within two at 80-78 with under 20 seconds left. After splitting free throws Cloud County led 83-80 and the Conqs had 13 seconds to work with Chevalier "Ice" Emery would work to a three-point attempt and drain it to tie the game with just a second left and the game went to overtime tied at 83-83. A 4-0 run by the Conqs opened the overtime period but Cloud County responded to tie the game at 87 but then a Gavin Shannon layup with 42 seconds left would give the Conqs the lead and be the deciding points of the contest as the Conqs won 89-87 in overtime.
Conqs shot 47.5% in the contest hitting 10 three-pointers and went 23-36 from the free throw line while only having 13 turnovers, while Cloud County would shoot the ball well at 46.4% but the Thunderbirds had 22 turnovers.
Emery paced the Conqs with 27 points on 6-19 shooting and 12-13 from the charity stripe, scoring 26 of his 27 points in the second half. Shannon added 20 points on 7-13 shooting adding six rebounds and two blocks, while Marius Canery chipped in 13 points on 6-9 shooting. Jamari Gamble also tallied double figures finishing with 10 points and three assists.
Up next the Conqs host Cowley on Wednesday, December 6th at 7:30 pm and then will wrap up the first part of the season before the holiday break at Butler on Saturday, December 9th.
