Saints Escape Cloud With Second Straight Road Win
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College (13-12, 6-6) | 31 | 43 | 74 |
|
Cloud County Community College (15-10, 2-9) | 31 | 38 | 69 |
Road wins in the Jayhawk West are rarely things of beauty and the Seward County Saints weren't trying to win a pageant Monday night in Concordia as they took on the Cloud County Thunderbirds, but they were looking to win their second straight road game and that is exactly what they did, using a mid-second half spurt to grab the lead before hanging on for dear life down the stretch to knock off the T-Birds 74-69 behind solid performances from sophomores Secean Johnson and Evan Allen.
As usual, the Saints had to withstand an early barrage from the T-Birds on their home floor as Cloud jumped out to a 10-5 lead. Once that was over, Seward went on a 10-2 run, capped by a spectacular sequence by Evan Allen who got a block and rebound on the defensive end of the floor before knocking down a three pointer on the Saints ensuing possession to give them a 15-12 lead. It was a tussle from there with neither team taking more than a four point lead for the final 12 minutes of the half until finally they went to the halftime break deadlocked at 31.
The Saints shot just 31% in the first half of play while Cloud shot 42%, but Seward was able to hit 5 three pointers to Cloud's 3 while also outscoring them 8-2 at the free throw line.
Early in the second half the Saints fed the ball to Secean Johnson and the sophomore responded with four points in the first two minutes of the half to help Seward take a 39-33 lead. The Saints began to push and the T-Birds felt the pressure in front of their home crowd and by the midway point of the half, Seward had stretched its lead to the largest of the game to that point at 54-45. Allen finished on the inside to make it a double digit Seward lead and then Verdell Mays slipped behind the defense for a score to put the Saints on top 58-45. Just when it looked like the Saints might have the T-Birds in a chokehold and last place Cloud was ready to go away, the T-Birds roared back with a 12-3 run to cut the Seward lead to four and then a missed layup by Seward opened the door for a Cloud response, which came in the form of a three pointer to turn the tides from a six point game to a one point game at 65-64 in a matter of seconds. Seward regained their composure and got to the free throw line to hit a pair of freebies to go back up by three and moments later with the shot clock winding down on the Saints Allen drilled a three from the top of the key to make it a 74-68 game and put the fork in the T-Birds with just 1:24 left. The Saints missed four free throws in the final minutes as Cloud tried to mount a rally, but the T-Birds couldn't make the miracle comeback as Seward hung on to win 74-69 to pick up their second straight Jayhawk West Conference road victory.
Seward missed just 7 second half field goal attempts to finish at 70% for the period and 48% for the game while Cloud ended the night at 46% shooting. The Saints hurt themselves at the free throw line, shooting just 54%, but made up for it from long range where they knocked down 9 threes and shot 45%. Johnson and Allen both came up big for Seward, Johnson going for 21 points and 6 rebounds in the victory while Allen came off the Saints bench with a career high 18 points.
The Saints pick up a much needed win to improve to 13-12 overall and even their Jayhawk West record back up at 6-6 while Cloud County loses another close one to fall to 15-10 and 2-9 in conference play where they are alone in the Jayhawk West cellar.
After 3 games in 5 days, the Saints will get a rest midweek this week, getting their second half bye on Wednesday before taking the court once again on Saturday on Homecoming Night in the Greenhouse where they will host Dodge City in an 8:10 tip. Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsor Pizza Hut at any of their Liberal locations.