January 11, 2007                    

Tiger men break out of offensive funk, win at Neosho 86-58

Entering Wednesday night’s game at Neosho County as the lowest scoring team in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, the Cowley College men’s basketball team appeared ready to break out of its offensive doldrums as they scored 51 first half points in a 86-58 road win.

The return of freshman Sanijay Watts to the lineup after a two-game absence seemed to spark the Tigers as Watts scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the first half as Cowley built an insurmountable 51-22 halftime lead.

Cowley, which was averaging just 66.8 points per game and was coming off scoring just 48 points in a win over Kansas City on Saturday, shot 51.5 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent from three-point range.       

“These kids have been working to get better everyday,” Cowley head coach Brian Jackson said. “Hopefully, this will spark our guys offensively.”

The win was the Tigers’ second in a row and improves their record to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Sophomore James Loe followed up his 18 point performance against Kansas City with 21 points and eight assists in the win over the Panthers. Eric Hammond also played well as he finished with 11 points and five rebounds, while Joe Harvey added seven points, five rebounds and five steals.

Jamais Quary led Neosho with 12 points, while Richard Gunn added 10. However, Gunn also committed eight of the Panthers’ 24 turnovers. The loss drops Neosho’s record to 5-10 overall and 0-3 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley, which is in a five-way tie for second place in the conference, will play at Fort Scott (10-5 overall, 2-1 Jayhawk East) Saturday at 4 p.m. The game can be heard on KACY 102.5 FM Arkansas City, or by logging on to kacy.fm.

Box score:
Cowley (86): Matt Muncy 3-8 0-2 6, Larry Cox 3-6 0-0 6, Joe Harvey 3-9 0-1 7, Eric Hammond 4-7 0-0 11, James Loe 7-14 4-4 21, Sanijay Watts 10-15 2-4 22, Ludovic Dovonou 2-3 0-0 4, Nikola Grbicic 2-3 5-6 9, Tylor Blackburn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 34-66 11-17 86.

Neosho (58): Zach Rhine 0-4 0-0 0, Manny Richardson 1-3 4-6 6, Richard Gunn 4-9 1-4 10, Nick Bonci 1-6 0-0 3, Eugene Blue 2-7 0-1 4, Jay Brown 1-1 0-1 2, Jamais Quary 5-7 1-1 12, Demetrius Martin 9-15 0-0 21, Kefing Hill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-52 6-13 58.

Three-pointers: Cowley 7-19 (Muncy 0-2, Cox 0-1, Harvey 1-4, Hammond 3-5, Loe 3-6, Blackburn 0-1), Neosho 6-13 (Rhine 0-3, Quary 1-2, Gunn 1-2, Bonci 1-2, Martin 3-4). Rebounds: Cowley 36 (Watts 8), Neosho 34 (Blue 5). Assists: Cowley 22 (Loe 8), Neosho 13 (Gunn 5). Turnovers: Cowley 11, Neosho 24. Total fouls: Cowley 19, Neosho 17. Fouled out: Gunn. Technicals: none.