Tiger basketball team goes 2-0 at Cowley Classic

The Cowley College men's basketball team continued its challenging early season schedule by going 2-0 at the Cowley Classic played Friday and Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. The Tigers knocked off Allen Community College 69-59 on Friday before taking down Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa 80-64 on Saturday.

Cowley is now 3-0 on the season.

"I thought this weekend was a good measuring stick for us," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "Allen is a really well-coached squad, and NOC-Tonkawa is a big non-conference rival."

Against Allen, Cowley had 10 players score in the opening half as they built a 34-26 halftime lead. The teams traded 9-0 runs at the start of the second half, and the game remained close, with Cowley leading 53-50 with 7:30 left to play.

Another 9-0 run by the Tigers helped seal the victory. Allen, which also lost 75-66 against Coffeyville at the Cowley Classic, is now 1-2 on the season.

Sophomore Mekhi Cameron led the Tigers with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Raishaun Brown added 14 points and six rebounds. Chris Dixon led Allen with 19 points as the Red Devils shot only 33 percent in the loss.

Cowley struggled to get things going in the first half against NOC on Saturday, as they shot just 24 percent and trailed 28-24 at halftime.

After going 0-for-12 from three-point range in the opening half, Cowley went 8-of-12 from beyond the arc in the second half.

The Tigers opened the second half on a 17-6 run and built a double-digit lead at 62-51 following the third three-pointer of the second half by sophomore Xavier Valley, who finished with 13 points.

"It was good to see Xavier Valley back out on the court playing extended minutes," Jackson said. "He is such a threat for us and really stretches the floor."

Cowley shot 68 percent from the floor over the game's final 20 minutes and was led by Xavier Washington, going 6-of-7 from the floor and finishing with a game-high 20 points.

"Xavier Washington was huge against Tonkawa," Jackson said. "I want him to build on that game."

Cameron added 18 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Damare Smith added eight points and five steals.

"Damare brought a lot of energy to the team over the weekend. Hopefully, his confidence grows from it," Jackson said.

NOC-Tonkawa, which went 0-2 at the Cowley Classic, was led by Javontae Campbell's 18 points.

The Tigers and Mavericks will meet again Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Tonkawa, OK.

Thanks to coach Jackson's success against the Tigers while he was head coach at NOC-Tonkawa, Cowley has not won on the road against the Mavericks in the past 10 years.

"NOC-Tonkawa is a very tough place to play," Jackson said. "We need to have two great days of practice before our game with them on Wednesday. We have a few things we have seen on film that we will key in on in practice and work to get better at."

Box score from Friday:

Allen (59): Chris Dixon 7-16 3-3 19, Nick Whittick 2-11 3-6 8, Ahmed Mahgoub 4-7 2-2 13, Zabriel Boozer 0-2 0-0 0, Tanner Meyer 1-5 0-1 3, Eimon Galloway 0-0 0-0 0, Brycen Dean 0-6 1-4 1, Donavan Seamster 0-1 0-0 0, Killian Spellman 1-1 0-0 2, Trevian Sylvester 0-0 0-1 0, Xavier Evans 2-2 0-1 4, Tyren Shelley 2-6 3-4 9. Totals: 19-57 12-22 59.

Cowley (69): Raishaun Brown 4-8 5-6 14, Mekhi Cameron 6-14 6-8 20, Xavier Washington 1-2 0-0 3, Cameron Jernigan 3-4 1-2 7, Trevion Alexander 1-4 0-1 2, Mooch Austin 2-7 2-2 6, Xavier Valley 3-5 2-2 9, Damare Smith 1-2 0-1 2, Demetrius Rives 0-3 0-0 0, Corey Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, Kobe Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Lam Kuany 1-3 0-0 2, Jackson Greene 0-1 2-2 2. Totals: 23-58 18-24.

Three-pointers: Allen 9-27 (Mahgoub 3-5, Dixon 2-8, Shelley 2-4, Meyer 1-4, Whittick 1-2, Dean 0-3, Seamster 0-1), Cowley 5-18 (Cameron 2-6, Brown 1-5, Washington 1-1, Valley 1-1, Davis 0-2, Thomas 0-1, Rives 0-1, Smith 0-1). Rebounds: Allen 30 (Whittick, Mahgoub 5), Cowley 38 (Cameron 8). Assists: Allen 7 (Whittick 7), Cowley 11 (Alexander 4). Turnovers: Allen 9, Cowley 17. Total fouls: Allen 22, Cowley 19. Fouled out: Meyer, Washington. Technicals: Shelley, Washington.

Box score from Saturday:

NOC-Tonkawa (64): Javontae Campbell 7-11 2-4 18, Mohamed Kante 5-11 2-6 13, Montrez Ward 3-9 0-0 8, Kiya Randolph 0-3 0-0 0, Kayden Shaw 1-2 1-3 3, Aaron Johnson 0-0 0-2 0, Jason Hunt 1-2 2-2 5, David Teele 1-3 0-0 3, Delonte Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Hendryx 2-6 0-0 4, Tyson Brown 4-8 0-0 10, Tyler Day 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Carter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-56 7-17 64.

Cowley (80): Raishaun Brown 2-4 2-2 7, Mekhi Cameron 5-10 6-6 18, Xavier Washington 6-7 7-9 20, Xavier Valley 4-7 2-2 13, Trevion Alexander 1-5 0-0 2, Mooch Austin 2-4 2-2 6, Damare Smith 3-9 1-1 8, Demetrius Rives 0-2 0-2 0, Cameron Jernigan 2-4 1-2 5, Kobe Davis 0-0 1-2 1, Jackson Greene 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-53 22-28 80.

Three-pointers: NOC 9-16 (Ward 2-5, Brown 2-5, Campbell 2-2, Teele 1-2, Kante 1-1, Hunt 1-1), Cowley 8-24 (Valley 3-6, Cameron 2-5, Smith 1-4, Brown 1-3, Washington 1-2, Alexander 0-2, Austin 0-1, Greene 0-1). Rebounds: NOC 25 (Kante 8), Cowley 38 (Washington 8). Assists: NOC 10 (Ward 4), Cowley 16 (Alexander 5). Turnovers: NOC 8, Cowley 17. Total fouls: NOC 21, Cowley 21. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Hunt, Randolph, Brown.