The 2024-25 season tipped off for the Dodge City men's basketball team and it was a cold shooting night that would doom the Conquistadors in the season opener against McCook as they fell 78-67. 

The loss drops the Conqs to 0-1 on the season with a pair of non-conference contests looming on Friday and Saturday, November 8th-9th in Garden City against North Platte and Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa as the classic hosted by Garden City. 

It was a slow start for both teams on the night as the contest didn't see points until nearly two minutes. The Conqs' first nine points of the matchup would come from the free throw where both teams would spend most of the night as the game featured 83 total free throws. Just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half McCook started to push ahead as they went on a 10-0 run to lead 18-9 with under nine minutes left in the first half. Conqs finally tallied their first field goal at around the 8:30 mark with a Derrick Rivers three-pointer but both teams would continue to struggle from the field. The Conqs would push ahead late in the first half and own the 27-25 advantage at intermission as both teams shot around 24% in the first half from the field. 

McCook would snag the lead early in the second half, but the Conqs stayed within striking distance until the lead would get to eight at 54-46 with 7:30 minutes to go and then sneak up to 10 at 59-49 with just under seven minutes left in the game. The Conqs would see McCcook start to hit some shots in the second as they shot 53.8 from the field in the half while the cold shooting continued for the Conqs at just 29.7% from the field in the second half leading to the 78-67 loss. 

In the loss, the Conqs shot just 27% from the field while McCook shot 37.5%. Both teams made more free throws each than field goals in the contest as the Conqs were 28-39 from the charity stripe, and McCook was 29-44. The rebounding edge was in favor of the Conqs at 42-36, but 19 turnovers also hurt the Conqs in the loss. 

Jayse Boatwright led the Conqs with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Kyle Burns chipped in 12 points. Daouda Cisse tallied 10 points and Kejuan Payne posted eight points and 12 rebounds. Mynor Strong chipped in eight points and five rebounds. 

The Conqs will compete at the Garden City CC Classic to continue the season. They will face North Platte at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8th, and NOC-Tonkawa at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 9th.