Tiger basketball team ends first semester on a high note with 79-71 win at Garden City

The Cowley College men's basketball team bounced back from a pair of tough defeats to gain momentum heading into Christmas Break by rallying from a nine-point second-half deficit to win 79-71 Monday at Garden City Community College.

"That was a circle the wagons game for us," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "It was a must-win."

Cowley improves its record to 9-5 overall and 3-5 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Garden City drops to 9-4 and 4-4 in conference play.

Playing in just his second game of the season, freshman Jeff Nwankwo made his presence felt by scoring 11 of his 13 points in the opening half as Cowley held a 39-33 halftime lead.

"Jeff brought some serious juice to our team," Jackson said.

The Broncbusters went on to out-score Cowley 26-11 over the first 11 minutes of the second half as they led 59-50.

However, Tiger sophomore Mekhi Cameron scored 17 of his game-high 27 points over the final 8:49 as Cowley rallied for the eight-point win.

"Mekhi was special in the second half," Jackson said. "He made big play after big play. He has to do that every night to be the player he wants to be."

Cameron and Nwankwo combined to hit all seven of Cowley's three-point attempts, while Cameron Jernigan added 12 points and six boards on 5-of-8 shooting. 

"Cam made some big-time moves and plays," Jackson said. "Overall, this was a great team win. Everyone contributed something. It was the effort and passion that we played with. We played with urgency."

DaJion Humphrey led Garden City with 24 points, while Aundre Polk added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Cowley will not play again until Wednesday, January 4, at 7:30 p.m. when they play at Colby Community College.

"We need to carry the energy from this game into the second semester," Jackson said.
Box score:

Cowley (79): Mekhi Cameron 9-17 5-7 27, Mooch Austin 3-7 1-2 7, Demetrius Rives 2-6 0-0 4, Cameron Jernigan 5-8 2-3 12, Corey Thomas 2-5 0-0 4, Xavier Washington 1-3 2-4 4, Jeff Nwankwo 5-8 0-0 13, Xavier Valley 1-4 0-0 2, Damare Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Trevion Alexander 2-3 2-2 6, Kobe Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-63 12-18 79.

Garden City (71): Jaborri McGhee 3-11 4-5 10, Boston Harker 1-5 1-2 4, DaJion Humphrey 8-16 4-5 24, Larry Olayinka 5-5 0-0 10, Buru Naivalurua 3-9 1-5 7, David Elliott 3-5 0-0 6, Aundre Polk 4-8 2-4 10. Totals: 27-59 12-21 71.

Three-pointers: Cowley 7-21 (Cameron 4-9, Nwankwo 3-4, Valley 0-3, Thomas 0-2, Rives 0-1, Smith 0-1, Washington 0-1), Garden 5-16 (Humphrey 4-7, Harker 1-3, McGhee 0-5, Elliott 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 33 (Jernigan 6), Garden 38 (Polk 12). Assists: Cowley 17 (Austin, Rives 4), Garden 21 (Naivalirua 7). Turnovers: Cowley 11, Garden 17. Total fouls: Cowley 23, Garden 15. Fouled out: Nwankwo. Technicals: none.