Dodge City men's basketball worked past another KJCCC opponent in another down-to-the-wire contest, holding on for the 68-67 road win over Fort Hays Tech Northwest. 

The Conquistadors moved to 17-9 on the season and 13-7 in KJCCC action, picking up their third straight win over Tech in the series. The win is the 16th this season for the Conqs in games decided by single digits. 

Conqs grabbed early control, racing out to a 9-0 lead over nearly the first three minutes of action, while Tech made several advances, tightening up the game, even drawing even at 18-18 with just under 10 minutes remaining. Conqs, leading 23-20, went on a 10-2 run to work the lead to double figures at 33-22 by the under four media timeout. A late jumper in the final seconds of the first half by Jayvion Nurse carried a 36-27 lead into halftime. 

Tech came out of halftime with a 7-0 run to make it a two-point game at 36-34 three and a half minutes into the second half. Conqs answered by scoring the next six points and pushed the lead back to double digits at 49-39 with just under 12 minutes left. Leading 62-51 with just over six minutes left the Conqs offense went cold as Tech slowly chipped away at the deficit making it a one-point game at 66-65 with 2:19 remaining. Tech then took its first lead at 67-66 on a layup with 32 seconds remaining. The Conqs had not scored since the four-minute mark of the second half drew a foul with 12 seconds remaining, and Derrick Rivers calmly hit a pair of free throws to flip the lead back to the Conqs at 68-67 and went on to hold on for the victory. 

The Conqs shot just 37.9% but held Tech to just 33.3% shooting, matching the lowest shooting performance of the season by an opponent this season. Conqs controlled the boards out rebounding Tech to 46-21, while overcoming 21 turnovers. 

Rickey Loftin II led the Conqs on the night, scoring 17 points on 7-16 shooting, adding six rebounds. Nurse chipped in 12 points off the bench on 5-8 shooting, while Wesly Rosa recorded a double-double with 10 points on 4-5 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds, while blocking five shots. 

Conqs take on rival Garden City on Saturday, February 21st at 4:00 pm to keep the season rolling.