February 1, 2007                    

Cowley men get back in win column

Four days after watching a 14-point lead slip away in the game’s final five minutes of play, the Cowley College men’s basketball team made sure they wouldn’t suffer the same fate Wednesday night against Allen County as the Tigers hit 8-of-10 free-throw attempts in the final minute to hold off the Red Devils 87-81 at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half (27-17) and found themselves down 39-35 heading into halftime. However, the Tigers grabbed their first lead of the game five minutes into the second half as Matt Muncy’s three-point play gave Cowley a 55-54 lead.

Cowley gradually increased its lead thanks to a strong second half by sophomore point guard James Loe, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the game’s final 20 minutes of play. Sophomore guard Joe Harvey also came up big as he scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half.

The Red Devils trailed just 79-74 after a pair of free throws by Lloyd Phillips with 1:03 remaining. However, Cowley’s ability to hit free throws down the stretch, sealed the win.

The victory was a big one for the Tigers as it moved them into a three-way for fifth place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, just one game out of being in a three-way tie for second. Cowley is now 11-10 overall and 5-4 in the Jayhawk East.
Cowley head coach Brian Jackson was happy with the way his team played in the final minutes.

“I’m proud of the guys because that’s the same situation we were in a few days ago and weren’t able to get it done,” Jackson said. “We closed the game out like a mature basketball team.”

Joining Loe and Harvey in double figures were Sanijay Watts and Eric Hammond, who finished with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Watts also added nine rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win.

Phillips led Allen County with a game-high 29 points on 10-12 shooting from the floor. The Red Devils had four more players join Phillips in double figures in scoring, but it was not enough to prevent Allen County from dropping to 15-6 overall and 5-4 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will wrap up its three-game home stand by playing host to Labette Saturday at 7 p.m. The Tigers lost to Labette in the conference opener, 87-77. The Cardinals are one of the three teams locked in a tie for second in the conference at 6-3.
“We have a bad taste in our mouth from opening conference play with a loss at Labette,” Jackson said. “This is not the same old Labette, we will have to be ready to play.”

Box score:
Allen (81): Lloyd Phillips 10-12 4-4 29, Elias Yeadon 5-9 3-5 14, Perry Petty 5-8 1-2 12, Anthony Barnhart 0-4 0-0 0, Trumaine Pearson 4-6 2-6 10, Henry Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Tim Miser 1-5 0-0 2, Tyray Petty 3-8 3-4 11, William Slones 1-2 1-2 3. Totals: 29-54 14-23 81.

Cowley (87): Sanijay Watts 7-14 5-6 19, Matt Muncy 2-6 1-1 5, Joe Harvey 5-9 4-9 16, Eric Hammond 5-10 4-4 17, James Loe 7-12 2-2 18, Larry Cox 2-5 1-2 6, Ludovic Dovonou 0-1 0-0 0, Nikola Grbicic 2-4 2-2 6. Totals: 30-61 19-26 87.

Three-pointers: Allen 9-22 (Phillips 5-6, Yeadon 1-2, P. Petty 1-2, Pearson 0-2, Miser 0-4, T. Petty 2-6), Cowley 8-18 (Muncy 0-1, Harvey 2-2, Hammond 3-6, Loe 2-5, Cox 1-3, Grbicic 0-1). Rebounds: Allen 29 (T. Petty 5), Cowley 29 (Watts 9). Assists: Allen 13 (P. Petty 5), Cowley 16 (Loe 5). Turnovers: Allen 15, Cowley 12. Total fouls: Allen 23, Cowley 19. Fouled out: P. Petty, Miser, Cox. Technicals: none.