Cowley hands No. 6-ranked Barton its first loss, 80-70

In a battle of unbeaten teams in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, the Cowley College men's basketball team continued to impress with an 80-70 road win at No. 6-ranked Barton Community College on Wednesday.

The victory improves Cowley's record to 9-1 overall, and the Tigers now sit atop the Jayhawk Conference standings with a conference mark of 4-0. The Cougars fall to 9-1 and 3-1 in the conference.

Trailing 18-12 midway through the first half, Cowley made its move. The Tigers used a 17-3 run, capped by a basket by freshman Leslie Owens, to lead 29-21 with 3:25 left before halftime.

Owens would score 10 of his 17 points in the first half, and Cowley out-shot the Cougars 48 percent to 28 percent from the floor.

Cowley's lead would balloon to 16 points (68-52) before a 9-0 run by the Cougars cut the Tigers' lead to seven (68-61) with just over five minutes remaining. However, Cowley answered with six straight points and went on to the 10-point victory.

"Any road win is a good win," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "Barton is a really good basketball team. Credit to the guys for fighting and competing on the road, in a hostile environment, for 40 minutes."

Sophomore point guard Arzhonte Dallas scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, and Damare Smith added 12 points and four steals.

"Damare and Arzhonte were huge for us," Jackson said.

Fellow sophomore Corey Thomas also came up big with eight points, nine rebounds, and two blocked shots.

Myles Thompson led Barton with 11 points and 13 rebounds but made just 3 of 10 shots from the floor.

Cowley will return home to face Garden City Saturday at 3 p.m. The Broncbusters are 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

"We have to change our focus to Garden City," Jackson said. "They are very well-coached and may have the most talented starting lineup in the league. We will need to have two great days of practice to give ourselves a chance."

Box score:

Cowley (80): Avante Nichols 2-4 2-4 6, Jeff Nwankwo 1-7 1-2 4, Arzhonte Dallas 7-12 7-8 24, Damare Smith 4-8 2-2 12, Corey Thomas 4-7 0-0 8, Shamarrie Hugie 2-4 0-0 5, Ajai Flagg 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Zeigler 1-2 0-1 2, Leslie Owens 8-12 0-2 17, Lam Kuany 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 30-59 12-19 80.

Barton (70): Ring Malith 3-10 0-0 8, Mozae Downing-Rivers 2-10 0-2 4, Myles Thompson 3-10 4-6 11, Cooper Jackson 2-7 2-3 7, Lajae Jones 3-8 11-12 18, Keandre Kindell 1-1 0-0 2, Brent Moss 2-7 3-4 7, Christian Bowen-Webb 1-4 2-2 5, Amiri Ndayisaba 3-3 0-0 8, Stefan Spray 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-60 22-29 70.

Three-pointers: Cowley 8-24 (Dallas 3-6, Smith 2-6, Nwankwo 1-5, Hugie 1-2, Owens 1-1, Nichols 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Zeigler 0-1, Kuany 0-1), Barton 8-24 (Malith 2-8, Ndayisaba 2-2, Bowen-Webb 1-3, Thompson 1-3, Jones 1-3, Jackson 1-2, Downing-Rivers 0-2, Moss 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 36 (Thomas 9), Barton 42 (Thompson 13). Assists: Cowley 13 (Nichols, Smith, Owens 3), Barton 11 (Downing-Rivers 5). Turnovers: Cowley 13, Barton 14. Total fouls: Cowley 19, Barton 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Thompson, Barton bench, Dallas.

Photo provided by James Dill