March 9, 2006                    

Tigers advance to Wichita with 62-50 win over Pratt

Ending the first half on a 10-2 run and opening the second half on a 12-2 run, the seventh-seeded Cowley College men’s basketball team fought back from an eight-point deficit to defeat No. 10-seed Pratt 62-50 in the first-round of the Region VI Tournament played Wednesday at W.S. Scott Auditorium/Dan Kahler Court.

The Tigers closed out its home schedule with eight straight wins, and head to Wichita State University’s Koch Arena to play second-seeded Cloud County at 7 p.m. Sunday, riding a three-game winning streak.

“Our guys don’t want to lose right now, they just keep fighting,” Cowley head coach Brian Jackson said. “We defended really well and got a little more comfortable in the second half.”

After managing to score just 12 points in the first 17 minutes of play, Cowley found themselves down by a score of 20-12. However, Cowley sandwiched a pair of scoring runs to go on top 34-24 with 14:35 remaining in the game.

Pratt got the Tigers’ lead down to 41-39 after a three-pointer by Donald Dixon with 9:20 left to play, but Cowley answered with a 10-0 run to go back on top by 12 (51-39) and never let the defending Region VI champions get closer than eight points of the lead the rest of the way.

Cowley shot an astounding 65.2 percent from the floor in the second half as they made 15-of-23 field goal attempts. Freshman Santwon Latunde (20 points) and sophomore Julio Anthony (16 points) each stepped up with 13 points apiece in the game’s final 20 minutes of play.

“It’s a sign of those guys fighting for their season,” Jackson said.

The Beavers entered the game averaging 78 points per game. However, Cowley held them to 35.8 percent shooting and forced Pratt into 19 turnovers.

The win improves the Tigers’ record to 16-15 overall, while Pratt ends its season with a record of 18-13. Jarvis Nichols was the only Pratt player to finish in double figures as he scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half of play.

Cowley advances to play No. 2-seed Cloud County (23-8), who was an 86-59 winner over Labette on Wednesday. The Thunderbirds beat the Tigers twice to open the regular season and shared the Jayhawk West title with Dodge City.

“We want another opportunity to play them,” Jackson said. “We feel we are a little different basketball team this time around.”

Box score:

Pratt (50): Bryce Simon 2-6 0-0 6, Donald Dixon 2-5 0-0 6, Drew Kanngiesser 1-5 0-1 2, Jarvis Nichols 7-16 0-0 15, Mitch Arnett 1-1 0-0 2, Marvin Lee 0-8 6-9 6, Josh Randall 4-9 0-3 8, Brandon Graber 2-3 0-0 5. Totals: 19-53 6-13 50.

Cowley (62): Marcus Watts 5-11 0-0 11, Lionel Saban 1-4 0-0 2, Julio Anthony 6-11 1-2 16, James Franklin 1-4 0-1 2, Santwon Latunde 7-11 6-8 20, Josh Cummings 1-6 0-0 2, Joe Harvey 1-1 2-2 4, Dane Kelly 1-1 2-2 4, Matt Muncy 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Houser 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-50 11-15 62.

Three-pointers: Pratt 6-21 (Simon 2-5, Dixon 2-5, Kanngiesser 0-2, Nichols 1-5, Lee 0-2, Graber 1-2), Cowley 5-13 (Anthony 3-4, Watts 1-3, Franklin 0-1, Cummings 0-4, Kelly 1-1). Rebounds: Pratt 32 (Nichols 13), Cowley 36 (Latunde 8). Assists: Pratt 6 (Nichols 3), Cowley 9 (Franklin 4). Turnovers: Pratt 19, Cowley 13. Total fouls: Pratt 14, Cowley 17. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.