North Platte falls in home opener to Cloud County

North Platte, Neb. – For the second time in eight days the North Platte Community College men's basketball team faced off against the Thunderbirds of Cloud County Community College. Cloud County would seek revenge by earning the 74-62 victory inside the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.

Ramiah Adedigba finished the game with 21 points to lead North Platte, but the Knights shot just 33.9 percent from the field.

It was a tightly contested opening seven minutes, before a 9-0 run gave the Thunderbirds a 13-4 advantage. Knights finally ended the shooting drought by attacking the basket, as Davion Evans finished with an up and under move through two Thunderbird defenders to cut into the deficit.

Knights answered with a run of their own over the next five minutes to take their second lead of the game on a deep corner three from Adedigba. Inside the final five minutes of the half North Platte pushed their lead to four, however the Thunderbirds never backed down erasing the deficit and building a four-point lead by the halftime break.

North Platte narrowed the margin to one after a Bruce Carpenter free throw just twenty seconds into the second half. The battle continued for the next six minutes as the lead changed hands four times during that stretch. A quick surge by Cloud County was met with a response by the Knights, as the margin stayed under eight for the next six minutes.

As the game reached its final minutes of regulation the Thunderbirds never relinquished their lead. Cloud County held the Knights without a field goal for the final three minutes, as the teams split the season series each winning on the road.  

North Platte will hit the road for the two-day tournament in Sterling, Colo. Knights open the tournament with Western Wyoming Community College on Thursday at 6 p.m.