February 22, 2007

Balanced attack leads Tigers to 94-66 win over Highland

Pictured: Nikola Grbicic slams down two of his 21 points during the Tigers 94-66 win over Highland on Wednesday.

Getting six players to score in double figures, the Cowley College men’s basketball team blasted Highland 94-66 Wednesday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium/Dan Kahler Court.

Cowley used a 16-0 run to turn an 11-11 tie into a 27-11 first half lead. The Tigers would eventually lead 42-28 at the end of the first half and pushed its lead to 51-30 after a three-pointer by sophomore Matt Muncy two minutes into the second half.

Cowley was never threatened after that as they improve to 15-12 overall and 9-6 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The victory moves the Tigers into a four-way tie for third place in the Jayhawk East, just one game behind second place Independence.

Cowley out-shot Highland 48.5 percent to 36.2 percent from the floor. However, one area Tiger head coach Brian Jackson was not pleased with was Cowley’s 19 turnovers.

“There are a lot of positive things that went on tonight, but I have to eliminate more of our problem areas or else we are going to be done playing in two weeks,” Jackson said.

Freshman post player Nikola Grbicic led the way with his season-high 21 points as he went 6-of-7 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the free-throw line. Freshman forward Sanijay Watts continued his hot shooting as he went 7-of-9 from the floor and finished with 16 points.

Sophomore point guard James Loe had a solid all around game as he finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. While, Santwon Latunde added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Muncy and Joe Harvey each finished with 11 points, and Ludovic Dovonou chipped in with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Highland’s DeWayne Wright scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the game’s first 20 minutes of play, while Jewel Carter added 17 points for the Scotties. The loss drops Highland’s record to 8-19 overall and 2-13 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will now prepare for its final regular season home game as they will host conference leading Coffeyville Saturday at 7 p.m.

Jackson is looking forward to the challenge of playing the Red Ravens, who are 23-4 overall and 13-2 in the Jayhawk East.

“If we can play with them then we can play with anybody,” Jackson said.

Box score:
Highland (66): Josh Wilmes 2-5 0-0 6, Mahershal Simonet 4-10 2-3 14, DeWayne Wright 4-16 11-14 19, Jewel Carter 7-14 3-3 17, Jordan Bradberry 4-5 0-4 8, Sterling Jackson 0-3 0-0 0, Max Brammell 0-0 0-0 0, Angelo Huffman 0-1 0-0 0, Jonathan Graham 0-4 2-4 2. Totals: 21-58 18-28 66.

Cowley (94): Sanijay Watts 7-9 2-2 16, Matt Muncy 4-14 0-0 11, Ludovic Dovonou 4-13 1-2 9, Joe Harvey 4-6 3-4 11, Eric Hammond 0-2 0-0 0, James Loe 3-9 5-6 12, Nikola Grbicic 6-7 9-13 21, Tyler Blackburn 0-1 0-0 0, Santwon Latunde 5-8 4-4 14. Totals: 33-68 24-31 94.

Three-pointers: Highland 6-24 (Wilmes 2-4, Simonet 4-9, Wright 0-7, Carter 0-3, Jackson 0-1), Cowley 4-15 (Muncy 3-7, Dovonou 0-2, Loe 1-6). Rebounds: Highland 27 (Wright 6), Cowley 48 (Dovonou 11). Assists: Highland 7 (Wright 4), Cowley 19 (Loe 6). Turnovers: Highland 21, Cowley 19. Total fouls: Highland 20, Cowley 23. Fouled out: Huffman, Grbicic. Technicals: Highland bench, Grbicic.