Back in action after nearly a month off for the holidays, the Dodge City men's basketball team hit the road traveling to Goodland to take on Fort Hays Tech Northwest and the Conquistadors would overcome a 27-point deficit but ultimately fall short in overtime 94-91 to the Tigers. 

The loss sends the Conqs to 5-9 on the season and 2-6 in KJCCC action. 

It was a cold start to the night offensively for the Conqs falling behind 10-0 over the first five minutes of action against Tech and it would be an uphill climb the rest of the way. Throughout the first half, the Conqs would trail by double figures outside of a couple of pushes to draw within five points but a 13-5 finish to the first half had the Conqs trailing 42-24 at intermission. In the second half, the lead grew to as high as 27 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game and would stay a double-digit lead until four and half minutes left in regulation when the Conqs drew within nine points. A Derrick Rivers layup with 1:20 left put the Conqs within two points at 82-80 and after a defensive stop, Mynor Strong would drain a pair of free throws to tie the game at 82-82 with 26 seconds remaining. The Conqs defense would stop Tech and push the game into overtime where the Conqs took their first lead at 85-84 on a layup and free throw by Jayse Boatwright and then a 6-0 run by the Conqs made it 91-86 with 1:26 remaining. The Conqs would not score again as they missed some free throws and turned over the ball twice while Tech made a pair of three-pointers to regain the lead and then two free throws to finish the game 94-91 in overtime. 

In the loss, the Conqs shot the ball solidly at 48.6% and were 9-18 from three-point range but were just 14-23 from the free-throw line and had 23 turnovers. While Tech shot just 40.7% for the contest. 

Rivers finished with a career-high 27 points on 10-18 shooting including 4-6 from three-point range adding six rebounds, while Strong added 19 points with six rebounds. Keshawn Brown Jr. chipped in 16 points off the bench and Boatwright recorded a double-double with 14 points and career-high 11 rebounds while adding five assists, and four steals. Wesly Rosa contributed 10 points and eight rebounds for the Conqs in the loss. 

The Conqs will quickly jump back into action, as they will host Colby on Wednesday, January 8th, at 7:30 p.m. to continue their action in the Jayhawk Conference.