February 19, 2007                     

Tigers come up short at Independence, fall into tie for fifth

With an opportunity to steal a road win at Independence on Saturday, the Cowley College men’s basketball team battled hard before losing to the Pirates 71-65.

The loss drops the Tigers’ record to 14-12 overall and 8-6 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Cowley is now tied with Kansas City for fifth place in the conference, one game behind three teams that are tied for second at 9-5.

Things started out well as Cowley held a 15-4 lead after the first 10 minutes of play. However, Independence outscored the Tigers 25-7 to close out the half with a 29-22 lead.

After falling behind by 11 points (36-25) early in the second half, Cowley rallied to grab its first lead of the second half at 54-53 on a basket by Santwon Latunde with less than five minutes remaining. However, Latunde, who was fouled on the play, was charged with a technical foul for excessive celebration.

After Independence made a pair of free throws on the technical, Latunde hit his free throw to tie the game at 55-55.

Trailing 68-65, Cowley’s James Loe misfired on a three-point attempt with 20 seconds remaining, and the Tigers were forced to foul. The Pirates hit 3-of-4 free-throws in the game’s final 20 seconds as they held on for the 71-65 win.

“The effort was good, we just did not execute down the stretch the way we needed to in order to win,” Cowley assistant coach Brandon Lesovsky said.

Cowley freshman Sanijay Watts led all scorers with 20 points and added seven rebounds. Loe finished with 14 points and five assists, while Latunde chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.

The win improves Independence’s record to 17-9 overall and moves the Pirates into a three-way tie for second at 9-5 in the conference. James Bush, who averages just 8.5 points per game, led Independence with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Cowley will now prepare for a couple of home games as they will host Highland Wednesday at 7 p.m., and then battle Coffeyville Saturday at 7 p.m.

“We are neck and neck for a home game in the first-round of the playoffs, so we want to protect our home court,” Lesovsky said.

Box score:
Cowley (65): Sanijay Watts 10-14 0-1 20, Matt Muncy 2-3 0-0 4, Joe Harvey 2-7 2-4 6, Eric Hammond 1-5 0-2 3, James Loe 3-12 6-6 14, Ludovic Dovonou 2-2 0-0 4, Nikola Grbicic 0-0 3-6 3, Santwon Latunde 3-7 5-10 11. Totals: 23-50 16-29 65.

Independence (71): Leonard Parker 3-6 1-2 7, Clint Brightman 3-4 0-0 6, Rico Seay 5-12 2-2 13, TJ Stukes 2-8 2-2 6, Tyrone Evans 3-10 4-4 11, Gordon Ward 0-1 0-0 0, James Bush 7-11 1-3 15, Mekan Moss 1-4 0-2 2, Dusty Burdolski 1-1 3-4 6, Lukasz Lukaszewicz 2-5 1-2 5. Totals: 27-62 14-21 71.

Three-pointers: Cowley 3-13 (Harvey 0-1, Hammond 1-3, Loe 2-9), Independence 3-16 (Parker 0-2, Seay 1-4, Bush 0-1, Moss 0-2, Burdolski 1-1, Evans 1-6). Rebounds: Cowley 32 (Watts 7), Independence 41 (Stukes 8). Assists: Cowley 13 (Loe 5), Independence 12 (Parker 7). Turnovers: Cowley 18, Independence 20. Total fouls: Cowley 24, Independence 21. Fouled out: Parker. Technicals: Latunde.