#2 Red Raven Men's Basketball Stumbles and Receives First L of the Season in 70-67 Loss At Indy

#2 Red Raven Men's Basketball Stumbles and Receives First L of the Season in 70-67 Loss At Indy
March 10, 2021
Box Score

Independence, Kan. - 13 wins in a row (22 in a row dating back to last year), that was the streak the#2 NJCAA ranked Coffeyville Community College Red Raven Men's Basketball Team had coming into the first game of the year against their cross-county rivals, the Independence Pirates.  The game did not go the way of the Ravens and the streak ended with a 70-67 loss at the hands of the Pirates.  With the loss, the Raven's overall record falls to 13-1 and 11-1 in KJCCC conference play.  The 11-1 conference mark for the Ravens still has them in first place, one game up on second place Cowley College.

Coffeyville seemingly had the game wrapped up.  The Ravens had led 37-28 at halftime and extended that lead out to 20 (52-32 with 15:30 to go in the second half).  However, from that point forward the air seemed to come out of the Ravens and the Pirates slowly chipped away at the lead.  

The game came down to Indy hitting two late free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game up at 67.  On the subsequent inbounds play, Coffeyville turned the ball over and the Pirates were able to hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to send the Ravens to the 70-67 defeat.

The shooting percentages were reversed for the two teams.  Coffeyville shot 46% in the first half in building their lead to ICC's 34%.  However, the second half saw the Ravens go cold, shooting only 31% in the second half compared to ICC's 48%.  The cold second-half shooting combined with ICC outrebounding the Ravens by 14 (44-30) meant that Coffeyville was not able to get the rebounds from most of those missed second-half shots.

Coffeyville did have three players in double figures with sophomore Tylor Perry and freshman Love Bettis both notching 15 points along with freshman Hayden Brittingham pitching in 10 points.

Up next for the Ravens is a road game scheduled at the #20 NJCAA ranked Butler Community College Grizzlies (11-2).  The game in El Dorado Kansas is set for Saturday, March 13th with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.