Nwankwo’s big night helps the Tigers blast Dodge City 85-59

With a showdown with 15^th-ranked Hutchinson Community College looming on Wednesday, the 10^th-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team did a good job of not looking ahead in an 85-59 victory over Dodge City Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley improves its record to 21-3 overall and 16-2 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Tigers remain in second place in the conference, one game behind Barton (17-1). Dodge City is now 9-15 overall and 7-11 in the conference.

Leading Saturday's game by a score of 22-21 midway through the opening half, Cowley would start to pull away and used 65.4 percent shooting to take a 46-35 lead into halftime.

Sophomore Jeff Nwankwo scored 12 first-half points, and eight Tigers scored in the opening 20 minutes.

Cowley's lead would grow to 20 points (61-41) following a basket by freshman Leslie Owens with 14:12 left to play, and the Tigers were never threatened again.

Nwankwo finished with a game-high 26 points, while guards Arzhonte Dallas and Damare Smith added 10 points apiece. Avante Nichols added nine points by going 3-of-3 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the foul line, and Corey Thomas added six points and 13 rebounds.

"Overall, I think this was a well-rounded effort," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "Everyone played a role and we shared the ball well. Jeff had a nice stretch in the second half."

Dodge City shot just 35 percent in the loss and was led by Chevalier Emery's 14 points.

"I really thought we defended well in the second half," Jackson said. "We were flying around and getting on the floor for loose balls."

Cowley will play a second straight home game on Wednesday, February 14, when they face No. 15-ranked Hutchinson at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Dragons, and former Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme, are 20-3 overall and 15-2 in the conference. The Tigers won at Hutchinson by a score of 83-70 on December 9.

"Hutch has been playing extremely well," Jackson said. "They have really been putting it to teams. They are certainly playing some good ball. We can't have any bad days of practice. We need to be locked all the way in if we want any chance to win."

Saturday's box score can be found at https://cowleytigers.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/boxscores/20240210_lr9v.xml?view=boxscore.