T-Birds Put Away Pesky Blue Devils; Face Indy in 2nd Round
(Concordia, KS) -- The Cloud County Thunderbirds took the best shot the visiting KCK Blue Devils had, but it wasn’t quite enough as Cloud County put together a solid 2nd half to capture a first round Region VI victory and the team’s 20th win of the season, 60-51. The T-Birds got a solid performance from the bench and on the glass out-rebounding the Blue Devils 33-25 and getting just enough contribution from the reserves to pull away when it counted.
Sophomore Rudy Meo led all scorers with 24 points and 7 rebounds. Freshman Jemal Farmer added 15 points to round out the double figure scoring. Sophomore starting point guard Girod Adams left the game in the 1st half with a lacerated lip but returned, with stitches, to close out the game. Scoring: Kovalov – 2; Russell – 1; Adams – 2; Moss – 6; Antenen – 4; Blocker – 2; White-Ready – 2; Taylor – 2.
The 6th seed Thunderbirds (20-11) will lock horns with the 3rd seed Independence Community College Pirates on Sunday at 5 p.m. The game will take place in Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University. The winner of that game will face the Garden/Seward winner on Monday at 7 p.m.
Wed. Mar. 5 Men's Region VI D-I 1st Round
(Official Pairings)
E-1 Cowley College (28-2) def W-8 Butler (9-20) 78-44
W-4 Barton County (22-7) def E-5 Allen Co. (17-13) 89-84OT
E-3 Coffeyville (22-8) def W-6 Dodge City
(14-15) 79-65
E-2 Independence (25-5) def W-7 Pratt (11-19) 98-53
W-3 Cloud Co. (19-11) def E-6 Kansas City, KS (11-19) 60-51
W-5 Garden City (19-10) def E-4 Neosho
County (14-16) 79-69
W-1 Seward County (25-5) def E-8 Labette (5-25) 101-59
Sun. Mar. 9 Men's Region VI D-I at Wichita State
1:00 - Cowley College (29-2) vs (23-7) Barton County
3:00 - Coffeyville (23-8) vs (23-8) Hutchinson
5:00 - Independence (26-5) vs (20-11) Cloud County
7:00 - Garden City (20-10) vs (26-5) Seward County
Mon. Mar. 10 Men's Region VI D-I Semi-finals - 5:00 - 7:00
Tue. Mar. 11 Men's Region VI D-I
Championship - 8:00