Trojans enter break with win over No. 13 Coffeyville

After trailing by 17 points, the Colby Community College men's basketball team regrouped at halftime for a 77-73 win over the thirteenth ranked Coffeyville Red Ravens Sunday at the Colby Community Building.

"We were able to weather the storm in the first half and play a great second half," said Colby head coach Rusty Grafel. "As a coach, you always want to have a good start to the game but even more important is how you finish, and against the number 13 team in the country, I think we finished just fine!"

Colby trailed by 17 in the first half but closed the gap to 41-34 at the break. The defense clamped down in the second half as the Trojans outscored the Red Ravens 43-32.

"We are battling a lot of injuries right now, and we had a lot of guys step up for us," Grafel said.

The Trojans were without starting point guard Milton Wordlow III, who suffered a knee injury at Pratt on Wednesday. Sunday shooting guard Drew Young was lost for the season with a broken wrist in the first half. Without them, CCC still managed six of 13 from behind the arc and had 13 assists.

Xavier Smith and David Hall each tallied 19 points while Craig Beaudion added 16. Gabriel Gyamfi had a game-high eight rebounds.

Colby, now 8-4 overall now and 5-4 in the KJCCC, shares an identical record with Garden City and Seward County.

Coffeyville (11-2, 7-2) got 21 points apiece from Travis Washington and Marvin Johnson. The Red Ravens slip into a second place tie with Barton Community College and Cowley College behind Hutchinson.

After the holiday break, CCC resumes competition Jan. 1 for a 6 p.m. tip in Colby against the Northwest Technical College JV.