Tigers come up short in 70-65 road defeat

The Cowley College men's basketball team overcame a slow start to take a three-point (33-30) halftime lead at Northwest Kansas Tech Saturday in Goodland, KS. However, the Mavericks forced the Tigers into 13 second-half turnovers as they rallied for the 70-65 win.

Cowley, who finished with a season-high 21 turnovers in the defeat, had fought back from an early 13-0 deficit.

"Slow starts and turnovers continue to plague us," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "We have all got to look in the mirror, including myself, and find a way to fix our issues. We have given two games away because we don't value the ball."

With the score tied at 48-48, Cowley committed back-to-back turnovers which led to six straight points by the Mavericks as NW Tech went on to the five-point win.

Cowley is now 6-3 overall and 1-3 in the Jayhawk Conference, while NW Tech improves its record to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Raishaun Brown came off the bench to lead Cowley with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Mekhi Cameron added 14 points, while Cameron Jernigan came off the bench to finish with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Taiden Conner was one of four Maverick starters in double figures with 21 points as the Northwest Tech starters combined for 68 of its 70 points.

Cowley will return home to face No. 9-ranked Hutchinson, and former Tiger coaches Tommy DeSalme and Eric Nitsche Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Dragons opened the season with seven straight wins before dropping two of its past three games.

"The road doesn't get any easier with Hutch coming in next. They will be out for blood," Jackson said.

Box score:

Cowley (65): Mekhi Cameron 5-11 0-0 14, Xavier Washington 0-3 1-2 1, Mooch Austin 1-1 0-0 2, Xavier Valley 4-12 0-0 9, Demetrius Rives 2-4 0-0 4, Raishaun Brown 6-8 4-5 17, Damare Smith 1-4 0-0 2, Cameron Jernigan 4-6 3-5 11, Trevion Alexander 0-0 0-0 0, Corey Thomas 2-3 0-0 5, Lam Kuany 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson Greene 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 25-53 8-14 65.

NW Tech (70): Kashawn Cordes Jr. 3-5 0-2 6, Taiden Conner 7-13 3-4 21, Tate Bessire 3-4 7-9 15, Keyishon Miller 7-17 0-0 15, Arthur Celestin 5-14 1-2 11, Ethan Yancy 0-4 0-0 0, Quincy Snoddy 0-0 0-0 0, Darrion McTier 0-2 0-0 0, Youssouf Timera 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 26-61 11-17 70.

Three-pointers: Cowley 7-22 (Cameron 4-9, Valley 1-4, Brown 1-3, Thomas 1-1, Washington 0-2, Smith 0-2, Rives 0-1), NW Tech 7-17 (Conner 4-6, Bessire 2-2, Miller 1-6, Cordes 0-1, Yancy 0-1, McTier 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 32 (Jernigan 9), NW Tech 32 (Celestin 11). Assists: Cowley 6 (Austin 3), NW Tech 11 (Conner 4). Turnovers: Cowley 21, NW Tech 17. Total fouls: Cowley 21, NW Tech 14. Fouled out: Washington. Technicals: none.