The Coffeyville Red Ravens men's basketball team couldn't overcome a slow start Monday, dropping a tough one 63-56 to Cloud County.

Both teams started out slowly on offense, opting to take a patient approach and looking to get open shots. Although that did lead to looks for Coffeyville, it unfortunately didn't translate to many points. Other than leading scorer Love Bettis, typically reliable scorers such as Deng Mayar and AJ McBride struggled to get out of the gate, leading to a 5-point Thunderbird lead at the half, 27-22.

The Ravens continued to get good shots off out of the break, and even started out the second half on a 6-0 run to take their only lead at 28-27. However, after Cloud went on a counter-run to jump back out on top, Coffeyville just couldn't seem to get back into the fight. Bettis continued to hit his own looks, keeping the team at least close, but the Thunderbirds slowly woke up their own offense to keep the Ravens at arms reach. The Ravens eventually dropped this one, 63-56.

Bettis led the way with 26 points, while Blaise Keita added 12. Coffeyville drops to 13-12 this season, 10-9 in conference play. They'll take on Pratt this Wednesday.