November 27, 2006                    

Tiger men lose to a pair of Jayhawk West teams

Playing without its two leading scorers, Santwon Latunde (14.7) and Sanijay Watts (14.0), the Cowley College men’s basketball team dropped a pair of games at the Pratt Thanksgiving Classic on Friday and Saturday.

The Tigers opened with a 97-87 loss to Seward County on Friday and then lost to Pratt 82-63 on Saturday.

Against Seward, Cowley trailed 48-38 at the end of the first half, but used a 13-3 run to start the second half to tie the game at 51-51. Sophomore forward Matt Muncy scored eight of his team-high 16 points during the run.

However, one game after Northern Oklahoma College made 15-of-21 three-point attempts against the Tigers, Cowley was again hurt by its opponents three-point shooting as the Saints made 15-of-25 shots from behind the arc.

Seward quickly regained the lead and led by as many as 20 points (93-73) in the win. Theron Wilson led the Saints with 28 points and 13 rebounds as Seward improved to 8-1 on the season.

Joe Harvey and Nikola Grbicic each contributed 15 points for Cowley, while Eric Hammond added 11 points.

Watts missed the game with a groin injury, while Latunde did not play for unspecified reasons.
On Saturday, Cowley trailed Pratt just 34-30 at the end of the first half. However, the Beavers shot 62 percent in the second half as they pulled away for the 82-63 win.

Kevin Goffney went 8-of-9 from the floor and led the Beavers with 20 points as they improved to 10-0 on the season. Pratt connected on 10-of-24 three-point attempts and had four players score in double figures.

Freshman post player Larry Cox led Cowley with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Muncy added 10 points and three rebounds. The loss drops Cowley’s record to 4-4 on the season.

The Tigers will look to get back in the win column when they host Brown Mackie Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Box score from Friday:

Cowley (87): Matt Muncy 8-10 0-0 16, Ludovic Dovonou 4-9 2-4 10, Joe Harvey 5-10 5-5 15, Eric Hammond 5-13 0-0 11, James Loe 1-5 0-0 3, Larry Cox 3-10 0-0 6, Damen Harris 3-8 4-5 10, Tommy Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Nikola Grbicic 6-9 3-4 15, Tyler Blackburn 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 35-76 15-20 87.

Seward (97): Michael Tyree 6-14 1-2 17, Martrelle Patterson 2-2 0-1 6, Nick Burns 5-8 0-0 12, Darko Cohadarevic 5-11 0-0 14, Theron Wilson 9-20 8-11 28, Hank Harris 1-6 9-10 12, Bryson Hampton 2-3 0-1 4, Ervin Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Mat Hardiman 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremiah Brown 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 17-40 18-25 97.

Three-pointers: Cowley 2-14 (Cox 0-2, Dovonou 0-1, Harvey 0-1, Harris 0-1, Hammond 1-5, Loe 1-4), Seward 15-25 (Tyree 4-8, Patterson 2-2, Burns 2-3, Harris 1-1 Cohadarevic 4-6, Wilson 2-5). Rebounds: Cowley 37 (Cox, Hammond, Grbicic 5), Seward 39 (Wilson 13). Assists: Cowley 16, Seward 24. Turnovers: Cowley 15, Seward 14. Total fouls: Cowley 23, Seward 17. Fouled out: Cohadarevic. Technicals: Grbicic, Cohadarevic.

Box score from Saturday:

Cowley (63): Matt Muncy 5-9 0-0 10, Ludovic Dovonou 2-5 2-2 7, Joe Harvey 2-7 4-4 8, Eric Hammond 2-5 1-2 7, James Loe 1-3 4-7 7, Larry Cox 6-15 0-0 13, Damen Harris 1-3 0-0 2, Tommy Williams 2-6 0-0 4, Nikola Grbicic 2-5 1-2 5. Totals: 23-58 12-17 63.

Pratt (82): Bryce Simon 5-13 3-4 17, Kevin Goffney 8-9 2-3 20,  Alex Rivas-Sanchez 1-3 1-4 3, Robert Moores 6-10 2-2 17, Jairocey Simpson 5-10 2-5 12, Rochard McAfee 3-6 2-4 8, Jordan Hammond 1-3 0-0 2, Brandon Gerber 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 30-57 12-22 82.

Three-pointers: Cowley 5-15 (Muncy 0-1, Cox 1-2, Dovonou 1-1, Harvey 0-2, Harris 0-1, Hammond 2-3, Williams 0-2, Loe 1-3), Pratt 10-24 (Simon 4-10, Goffney 2-3, Moores 3-5, McAfee 0-2, Hammond 0-1, Gerber 1-3). Rebounds: Cowley 28 (Cox 7), Pratt 36 (Rivas-Sanchez 11). Assists: Cowley 15 (Loe 4), Pratt 16 (Moores 6). Turnovers: Cowley 19, Pratt 18. Total fouls: Cowley 23, Pratt 17. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Muncy.