Tigers slip past Coffeyville 64-63, head into the break at 8-0 in the Jayhawk Conference
Earning one of its biggest wins of the season, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to win at Coffeyville Community College by a score of 64-63 on Saturday.
Both teams entered Saturday's game unbeaten in the conference, along with Butler (7-0). Cowley, winners of 10 games in a row, is now 13-1 overall and 8-0 in the Jayhawk Conference.
"Anytime you can get a road win in the Jayhawk Conference, you take it," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "I am proud of the guy's determination to find a way."
Cowley trailed 32-24 at the end of the first half and 38-26 following a three-pointer by Justin Taylor with 17:54 left to play.
However, the Tigers rallied to take its first lead of the second half at 54-52 following a three-pointer by Marcus Whitlock Jr.
With the game tied at 59-59, Cowley freshman CJ Majors hit a three-pointer to put the Tigers in front 62-59 with 2:58 left to play.
A three-point play by Coffeyville's Abdul Kuta cut the Tigers' lead to 64-63 with 47 seconds left.
After a Cowley turnover with 12.7 seconds remaining, the Red Ravens had a chance for the win go awry as Majors grabbed the miss of a three-pointer by Taylor as the final buzzer sounded.
The loss drops Coffeyville's record to 10-3 overall and 6-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.
"Coach (Jay) Herkelman has a great team," Jackson said. "They are very disciplined and do not make many mistakes. Both teams played extremely hard. It was a slugfest."
Shamarrie Hugie led Cowley with 14 points, while Majors finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
"CJ Majors gave us great minutes off the bench," Jackson said. "Slim (Hugie) and MJ (Marcus Whitlock) also stepped up and made some big shots for us in the second half."
Sophomore guard Marcus Zeigler also played well, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Taylor led Coffeyville with 13 points in the loss.
Cowley will not return to action until Saturday, January 4, when they play at Hutchinson at 4 p.m. The Blue Dragons are 8-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
"We need to enjoy our Christmas break with family and friends, but we still have a lot of work to do," Jackson said. "We have a big road game at Hutch when we come back."
Box score:
Cowley (64): Shamarrie Hugie 5-9 2-2 14, Marcus Zeigler 5-10 0-3 10, Kyden Thompson 2-4 1-1 5, Marcus Whitlock Jr. 2-9 1-2 7, Austin Fortune 0-0 0-0 0, Emarquis Jones 3-5 0-0 6, Avante Nichols 2-4 3-4 7, Winston Allen 1-4 0-0 2, CJ Majors 5-8 0-0 11, Dallas Whitney 1-3 0-2 2. Totals: 26-56 7-14 64.
Coffeyville (63): Brian Griffith 0-7 2-4 2, Relja Nagulic 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Taylor 4-11 4-5 13, Kaason Thomas 4-7 0-0 9, Abdul Kuta 3-9 3-4 9, Trenton Ruth 3-9 2-3 10, Daniel Ntambwe 3-6 0-0 6, Jeremiah Kemboi 0-2 0-0 0, Konstantin Popovic 1-2 0-1 3, Charles Caporaso 3-5 5-5 11. Totals: 21-59 16-22 63.
Three-pointers: Cowley 5-17 (Whitlock 2-6, Hugie 2-3, Majors 1-3, Whitney 0-2, Allen 0-1, Nichols 0-1, Zeigler 0-1), Coffeyville 5-20 (Ruth 2-6, Taylor 1-4, Thomas 1-2, Popovic 1-2, Griffith 0-4, Ntambwe 0-1, Kemboi 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 41 (Zeigler 9), Coffeyville 33 (Ntambwe 7). Assists: Cowley 8 (Thompson 3), Coffeyville 8 (Griffith 4). Turnovers: Cowley 20, Coffeyville 8. Total fouls: Cowley 19, Coffeyville 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.