Tigers reach 20-win plateau with 74-66 road win at Garden City

The No. 10-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to win 74-66 Wednesday at Garden City. The victory was the 20^th win of the season for the Tigers and snapped a four-game winning streak for the Broncbusters.

The Tigers (20-3) remain one game behind conference-leading Barton with a conference record of 15-2. Garden City (15-8) falls into a tie for fifth place in the conference with a record of 11-6.

Cowley got off to a slow start on Wednesday, trailing 13-5 early on and 34-29 at the end of the first half.

After shooting only 30 percent in the opening half, Cowley shot 50 percent and out-scored Garden City 45-32 over the final 20 minutes of play.

"That was a great team effort," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "It took us a while to settle in, but we found a way to keep fighting until we did. This was a gut-check win."

Trailing 40-31, Cowley rallied to take its first lead of the second half at 51-50 on a dunk by Jeff Nwankwo with just under nine minutes remaining.

Clinging to a 56-55 advantage, the Tigers got back-to-back three-pointers from sophomores Arzhonte Dallas and Damare Smith to increase its lead to 62-55 with 5:36 remaining, and Cowley went on to the eight-point win.

"Arzhonte and Damare hit some very timely shots for us down the stretch," Jackson said. "I really challenged those guys before the game that the team needed them. They stepped up for us."

Nwankwo and Dallas combined for 24 second-half points and finished with 18 points apiece, while Nwankwo added 10 boards. Smith finished with 11 points and four assists, and Corey Thomas helped Cowley win the rebound battle with 15 boards.

Garden City shot only 26 percent in the second half and was led by Thomas Tut's 19 points and 16 rebounds. Brody Robinson added 13 points and 10 assists, while Charles Chukwu chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Cowley will return home to face Dodge City (9-14 overall, 7-10 Jayhawk Conference) on Saturday at 3 p.m. before hosting 15^th-ranked Hutchinson (19-3 overall, 14-2 Jayhawk Conference) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

"We have a two-game home stand coming up, and we must protect our home court," Jackson said. "Dodge has excellent guard play, and Brad (Witherspoon) is going to have them ready," Jackson said. "We need to be ready to have great practices to give ourselves the best opportunity to win."

Box score:

Cowley (74): Jeff Nwankwo 7-16 4-7 18, Arzhonte Dallas 7-17 1-1 18, Damare Smith 4-9 0-0 11, Leslie Owens 1-5 2-4 4, Corey Thomas 2-5 2-4 6, Shamarrie Hugie 4-8 0-0 9, Avante Nichols 1-4 0-0 2, Marcus Zeigler 2-6 1-2 6, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-70 10-18 74.

Garden (66): Jordan Frazier 3-10 3-3 11, Braxton Jones 3-16 0-2 7, Thomas Tut 7-13 4-7 19, Charles Chukwu 4-11 3-8 11, Brody Robinson 3-13 6-7 13, Isaiah Dixon 1-1 0-0 2, Elijah Roberts 1-3 1-1 3. Totals: 22-67 17-28 66.

Three-pointers: Cowley 8-22 (Dallas 3-7, Smith 3-6, Zeigler 1-3, Hugie 1-2, Nwankwo 0-3, Nichols 0-1), Garden 5-30 (Frazier 2-9, Jones 1-8, Robinson 1-7, Tut 1-4, Roberts 0-2). Rebounds: Cowley 47 (Thomas 15), Garden 41 (Tut 16). Assists: Cowley 19 (Dallas 6), Garden 17 (Robinson 10). Turnovers: Cowley 17, Garden 16. Total fouls: Cowley 22, Garden 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.