Second-half surge lifts Independence over Cowley

The Independence Community College Pirates shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half as they turned a close game into an 18-point road victory by defeating Cowley College 85-67 Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley trailed 40-31 at the end of the first half before fighting back to within 59-57 following a three-pointer by sophomore Raishaun Brown with 7:23 left to play. However, the Pirates answered with a 21-4 run over the next five minutes of game time to win its second straight road contest.

Independence is now 6-7 overall and 3-4 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Cowley falls to 6-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

"I'm disappointed because we had a great week of practice and it didn't carry over to the game," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

The Pirates had five players score in double figures and were led by Jordan Clark's 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor.

"Give Indy credit, they can really score," Jackson said. "They are a tough matchup because they have so many guys that can make shots and it puts pressure on your defense."

Freshman Xavier Washington came off the bench to score a team-high 21 points for the Tigers, while Mekhi Cameron added 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Cowley will attempt to get back on track when they play at Seward Saturday at 8 p.m. The Saints are 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the Jayhawk Conference following a 96-83 loss at Garden City on Wednesday.

"We play another offensive juggernaut as we are going to have to have short term memory and move on from the Indy game quickly so that we can prepare for Seward," Jackson said.

Box score:

Indy (85): Rodney Munson 5-9 2-2 12, Jason Baker 2-4 0-0 4, Shamann Artis 5-9 0-0 14, Jordan Clark 8-10 4-4 21, Johan Nziemi 4-6 1-2 10, Lucas Kroft 4-6 3-3 14, Ian Hardy 2-5 0-0 5, Charles Noonan 1-3 0-0 3, Ty Butner 1-2 0-0 2, Paul Mathews 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 32-54 10-11 85.

Cowley (67): Raishaun Brown 2-7 1-1 6, Mekhi Cameron 4-10 3-6 12, Clarence King 3-9 2-2 9, Xavier Valley 0-2 0-0 0, Kennedy Willis 4-8 0-1 8, Xavier Washington 9-19 1-2 21, Emmanuel Austin 2-4 0-0 5, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Spenkuch 1-2 0-0 2, KJ Spiller 2-5 0-0 4, Christian Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Trevion Alexander 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-66 7-12 67.

Three-pointers: Indy 11-23 (Artis 4-7, Kroft 3-4, Noonan 1-3, Clark 1-2, Nziemi 1-1, Hardy 1-1, Munson 0-4, Baker 0-1), Cowley 6-21 (Washington 2-7, Cameron 1-5, Brown 1-3, King 1-3, Austin 1-2, Valley 0-1). Rebounds: Indy 30 (Munson 6), Cowley 29 (Brown, Cameron, Willis 5). Assists: Indy 16 (Munson, Clark 4), Cowley 13 (King 4). Turnovers: Indy 10, Cowley 14. Total fouls: Indy 11, Cowley 9. Fouled out: Hardy. Technicals: none.