Tigers sink the Pirates 69-60

Handed its worse defeat of the season back on December 7 at Independence Community College, the Cowley College men's basketball team enacted its revenge with a 69-60 victory over the Pirates Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Playing in front of a large home crowd on Homecoming night, the Tigers held Independence to 35 percent shooting in the opening half as they built a 37-24 lead.

"Our guys bought into going to a zone defense and played with high energy on the defensive end," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

Cowley's lead would balloon to 63-41 following a three-pointer by Corey Thomas. The 6'10" freshman made the most of his season-high 18 minutes of playing time by finishing with nine points and four rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor.

"We hope that performance is something for Corey to build on," Jackson said.

The final score was not indicative of how the game went, as Independence finished on a 14-2 run to cut the final deficit from 21 points to nine.

"It was a great crowd and a really good team game," Jackson said. "It was good to get everyone involved."

Sophomore Mekhi Cameron led Cowley with 17 points, while Xavier Washington added nine points and eight rebounds. Eight Tigers scored at least five or more points in the victory as Cowley improved its record to 14-10 overall and 8-10 in the Jayhawk Conference.

The Pirates' Josh Smith led all scorers with 23 points as Independence fell to 8-16 overall and 6-12 in conference play.

The Tigers will next play at Seward County Saturday at 4 p.m. The Saints are 12-13 overall and a half-game back of Cowley in the conference with a record of 8-11.

"This is a huge game for us in the race for a home playoff game," Jackson said. "We need to execute against their zone, rebound, and take away their easy transition points."

Box score:

Indy (60): Kam Parker 3-11 4-6 11, Josh Smith 9-18 3-5 23, Tyrese England 1-6 0-0 3, Famious French 3-5 0-0 6, Melvyn Ebonkoli 0-1 0-2 0, Johan Nziemi 0-0 0-0 0, Bouna Kebe 0-3 0-0 0, Ja'Tavis Groomes 0-0 0-0 0, Rashaun Parker 5-7 0-0 15, Aadam Coulibaly 1-1 0-1 2. Totals: 22-52 7-14 60.

Cowley (69): Mekhi Cameron 6-14 3-6 17, Xavier Washington 3-8 3-4 9, Jeff Nwankwo 2-10 0-0 6, Mooch Austin 2-5 4-5 8, Corey Thomas 4-4 0-1 9, Xavier Valley 3-7 0-0 8, Damare Smith 1-4 4-4 7, Demetrius Rives 0-2 0-0 0, Trevion Alexander 2-2 1-2 5, Lam Kuany 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-57 15-22 69.

Three-pointers: Indy 9-27 (R. Parker 5-7, Smith 2-8, K. Parker 1-5, England 1-4, Kebe 0-3), Cowley 8-28 (Nwankwo 2-7, Cameron 2-6, Valley 2-5, Smith 1-4, Thomas 1-1, Washington 0-3, Rives 0-1, Kuany 0-1). Rebounds: Indy 29 (K. Parker 9), Cowley 36 (Washington 8). Assists: Indy 5 (K. Parker 2), Cowley 12 (Washington, Austin 3). Total fouls: Indy 15, Cowley 13. Fouled out: Thomas. Turnovers: Indy 8, Cowley 8. Technicals: none.