Tigers' ride strong defensive effort to 63-60 playoff win

Closing out a solid home slate, the sixth-seeded Cowley College men's basketball team made just enough plays down the stretch to defeat 11^th-seeded Independence Community College 63-60 Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

With the win, Cowley (16-15) advances to the Quarterfinals of the Region VI Tournament where they will face third-seeded Butler Community College (22-8) Tuesday at 7 p.m. in El Dorado, KS.

On Saturday, the first half featured eight lead changes and four ties. Rodney Munson's three-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the Pirates a 27-25 lead.

After failing to score in the first half, Cowley freshman Xavier Valley hit three treys in the second half and scored all 11 of his points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

"That three-pointer early in the second half really got him going," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "I was super proud of him for stepping up."

A three-point play by fellow freshman Xavier Washington put Cowley in front 48-39 with 8:45 remaining.

The Tigers would continue to lead 61-54 with one minute left, before things started to get interesting. Cowley made just 2-of-5 free-throw attempts in the final minute and led 63-60 after sophomore Clarence King made the second of two free throws with two seconds remaining.

Fortunately, for the Tigers, Independence was unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer.

With the win, Cowley closes out the home portion of its schedule with a record of 11-4.

"The fans have been the driving force to our success at W.S. Scott Auditorium," Jackson said. "We had great support from our student section against Indy."

Cowley held the Pirates to 33 percent shooting from the floor and out-rebounded Indy 40-27.

"That is the most rebounds we have had in a long time," Jackson said. "We did a great job of altering their shots."

King led Cowley with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kennedy Willis added eight points, seven rebounds and three assists to go along with a pair of blocked shots.

"Kennedy was aggressive on the block and had some great passes out to our shooters for some timely threes," Jackson said.

After making just 1-of-11 three-point attempts in the opening half, Cowley made 5-of-12 treys after halftime.

Johan Nziemi led Independence with 18 points and 20 rebounds as the Pirates finish the season with a record of 12-19.

Cowley will now prepare to face a Butler Community College team they were swept by during the regular season. However, one of those defeats was an overtime loss at Butler back on January 24.

"Our guys will be ready to play," Jackson said. "We need to find a way to put ourselves in position to win the game."

Indy (60): Rodney Munson 5-12 2-2 15, Ian Hardy 1-10 1-1 3, Shamann Artis 2-11 0-0 6, Jordan Clark 3-11 3-4 9, Johan Nziemi 8-12 2-3 18, Precious Okoh 2-5 2-4 7, Paul Mathews 0-1 0-0 0, Ty Butner 0-2 2-4 2. Totals: 21-64 12-18 60.

Cowley (63): Raishaun Brown 3-8 2-3 8, Mekhi Cameron 2-13 2-4 7, Clarence King 5-14 3-5 13, Xavier Valley 4-9 0-0 11, Kennedy Willis 3-3 2-2 8, Xavier Washington 2-6 2-3 7, Emmanuel Austin 2-5 0-0 5, Christian Williams 0-1 0-0 0, KJ Spiller 2-5 0-0 4, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-64 11-17 63.

Three-pointers: Indy 6-22 (Munson 3-4, Artis 2-9, Okoh 1-3, Hardy 0-4, Mathews 0-1, Butner 0-1), Cowley 6-23 (Valley 3-7, Cameron 1-8, Washington 1-2, Austin 1-1, Brown 0-2, King 0-2, Williams 0-1). Rebounds: Indy 42 (Nziemi 20), Cowley 43 (King 8). Assists: Indy 11 (Hardy 4), Cowley 10 (King, Willis 3). Turnovers: Indy 3, Cowley 5. Total fouls: Indy 13, Cowley 13. Fouled out: Washington. Technicals: Indy bench.