Tigers never trail in 109-96 home win

Leading Saturday's home game against Neosho County from start to finish, the No. 19-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team defeated the Panthers 109-96 for its fourth straight win.

The victory keeps the Tigers one game behind conference-leading Coffeyville Community College in the loss column as Cowley is now 13-4 overall and 13-2 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Neosho hung close for the first seven or eight minutes as Cowley led only 20-17. However, the Tigers used an 18-6 run that was capped by a Clarence King dunk to lead 38-23. Cowley would go into halftime leading 54-40.

Trailing 91-74, the Panthers would use a 13-3 run to pull within 94-87 with 4:57 remaining. Cowley would answer with a 7-0 run of its own and cruised to the 13-point victory.

On a night the Tigers struggled shooting from three-point range (9-of-43), Cowley made up for it by going 22-of-24 from the foul line.

"We get so much of our energy from making threes and we were not making them on Saturday," Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme said. "We were fortunate to make enough plays to win, but we can't let our offense dictate our defensive energy."

Tiger sophomore Dalen Ridgnal scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and also grabbed 13 of his 16 rebounds over the game's final 20 minutes of play.

"Dalen seemed to get every big board and made plays for us," DeSalme said.

Ridgnal has now scored 86 points in his past three games to go along with 38 rebounds.

Other Tigers in double figures were, Mike'l Henderson (19 points, six assists), Moun'tae Edmundson (18 points), Clarence King (14 points), and Jacquez Yow (10 points, nine rebounds).

"Jacquez's energy stabilized us defensively and on the glass," DeSalme said.

Daniel Titus led six Panthers in double figures with 19 points. Neosho is now 6-10 overall and 4-10 in the conference.

The Tigers will play at Allen Community College Wednesday at 8 p.m. before returning home to face No. 6-ranked Coffeyville Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Allen is 6-12 overall and 5-11 in the Jayhawk East.

"We know what we have to do," DeSalme said. "We have got to be ready to play better at Allen. It is a huge game for us because it is the next one on the schedule. We need to keep our win streak going."

Box score:

Neosho (96): Deondre Buggage 3-9 6-8 13, Cougar Downing 5-12 4-5 16, Magic Reliford 6-17 0-0 13, Daniel Titus 8-15 2-8 19, De'Antray Hughes 5-9 0-2 10, Quentin Asberry 3-9 4-4 11, Makye Loggins 0-2 0-0 0, Tremaine Chelsey 3-9 1-3 7, Elijah Griffin 1-2 0-1 2, Davonte Russ 1-1 0-0 2, Trey Myrie 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 36-87 17-31 96.

Cowley (109): Mike'l Henderson 8-19 2-2 19, Clarence King 5-9 4-5 14, Moun'tae Edmundson 6-14 2-2 18, Cevin Clark 0-9 0-0 0, Dalen Ridgnal 10-16 5-5 28, Jacquez Yow 4-10 2-2 10, Josiah Harris 1-3 0-0 2, Biar Garang 1-1 0-0 2, Kobe Campbell 2-5 0-0 5, Shemarri Allen 0-2 5-6 5, Raishaun Brown 2-4 2-2 6, Tarese Morse 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 39-95 22-24 109.

Three-pointers: Neosho 7-31 (Downing 2-6, Reliford 1-8, Buggage 1-5, Titus 1-5, Asberry 1-3, Myrie 1-2,  Loggins 0-1, Chelsey 0-1), Cowley 9-43 (Edmundson 4-9, Ridgnal 3-5, Henderson 1-10, Campbell 1-3, Clark 0-9, King 0-2, Allen 0-1, Morse 0-1, Yow 0-1). Rebounds: Neosho 55 (Hughes 9), Cowley 60 (Ridgnal 16). Assists: Neosho 13 (Buggage 4), Cowley 17 (Henderson 6). Turnovers: Neosho 20, Cowley 15. Total fouls: Neosho 20, Cowley 25. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.