The best shooting performance of the season helped Dodge City men's basketball snap a two-game losing streak as they earned the 86-77 win over Pratt. 

The win moves the Conquistadors to 16-9 on the season and 12-7 in KJCCC action, while the Conqs have won eight of the last 10 meetings in the series with Pratt. 

The Conqs started the day behind 1-0 before the tip, after a pregame technical, and fell behind 7-2 to open the game. The game remained close, but Pratt stayed in front until a Richard Rojas jumper with just under 10 minutes left in the first half gave the Conqs a 21-20 lead. The lead was three or less either way the rest of the first half, and the game was tied 37-37 in the final seconds when the Conqs drew up a play, and Andrew Mabry nailed a 15-foot jumper to give the Conqs a 39-37 lead at intermission. 

Shooting over 50% at halftime, the hot shooting continued in the second half for the Conqs as they opened the second half on a 9-0 run to go up 48-37 over the first two minutes of the second half. Pratt tried to claw back into the game and would get with two possessions a few times, but the Conqs always answered and closed out the game with some free throws to earn the 86-77 victory. 

Conqs had their best shooting performance of the season, shooting 55% as a team, hitting 33 shots, and were 12-13 from the free throw line. Defensively, the Conqs held Pratt to just 37% shooting. 

Derrick Rivers led the Conqs with 24 points on 8-14 shooting and was 6-6 from the free throw line. Mabry added a career day with his best performance of the season, scoring 17 points and four rebounds. Jayvion Nurse tallied 12 points off the bench, while Brad Johnson added nine, and both Rojas and Wesly Rosa each scored eight. 

Conqs will spend the next week on the road, starting with a trip to Goodland to take on Fort Hays Tech Northwest at 8:30 pm on Wednesday, February 18th.