February 26, 2007

Cowley men's basketball drops hard fought game to Coffeyville

The Cowley College men’s basketball team gave conference leading Coffeyville quite a battle on Saturday. Unfortunately, it was not enough to earn a victory as the Red Ravens held on for the 77-70 road win.

Despite the defeat, Cowley head coach Brian Jackson was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I’m extremely proud of how hard the guys played, we gave Coffeyville everything they could handle tonight,” Jackson said. “We just made a couple crucial turnovers down the stretch and they hit some tough shots to win.”

After scoring the first six points of the game, Cowley would score only two points over the next six and a half minutes as Coffeyville went on a 22-2 run. Trailing by 14 points (22-8), the Tigers fought back to tie the game at 26-26 after a pair of free throws by former Red Raven, Eric Hammond, with 5:51 left in the first half. Cowley would go into the halftime intermission trailing just 37-34.

Coffeyville would lead by as many as eight points (56-48) in the second half before the Tigers mounted another rally. Cowley would use an 8-0 run to tie the game at 56-56 after a basket by sophomore Joe Harvey with 8:07 remaining.

With the score tied at 60-60 with 7:05 left to play, Coffeyville proceeded to hold Cowley scoreless for the next four minutes and 20 seconds as they opened a 67-60 lead with 2:45 remaining.

Cowley would cut Coffeyville’s lead to 69-66 after a steal and converted lay-up by Hammond with 1:12 left. However, the Red Ravens would get a basket by JJ Seymore and hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute as they held on for the seven-point win.

The victory wrapped up Coffeyville’s seventh straight Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division championship as the Red Ravens improved to 24-4 overall and 14-2 in the Jayhawk East. Seymore and Barry Eberhardt led Coffeyville with 20 points apiece.

Cowley was led by James Loe’s 15 points, while Matt Muncy added 13 points and five rebounds.

“Matt wants to finish the year strong and is maxing out his potential,” Jackson said.
Freshman Sanijay Watts, Cowley’s leading scorer on the season, scored six of his 10 points in the first two and a half minutes of the second half, but did not score again as Coffeyville did a good job of keeping him from getting the ball in the post.

The loss drops Cowley back into a tie for fifth place in the Jayhawk East. The Tigers are now 15-13 overall and 9-7 in the conference. Cowley will now prepare to play at Johnson County Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game can be heard on KACY 102.5 FM Arkansas City.

The Tigers will then finish the season at Allen County Saturday at 8 p.m.
“We have got to establish how we are going to play the rest of the season,” Jackson said.

Box score:
Coffeyville (77): JJ Seymore 8-15 1-2 20, Tyler Thompson 1-3 0-0 3, Daniel Payne 3-5 5-6 12, Brandon Kennedy 7-17 0-0 16, Barry Eberhardt 6-9 6-6 20, Aaron Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Lucas Lumb 1-4 2-2 4, Ja’Mal Stewart 1-1 0-0 2, Tarod Sanders 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 27-57 14-16 77.

Cowley (70): Sanijay Watts 5-8 0-2 10, Matt Muncy 4-5 2-3 13, Ludovic Dovonou 3-6 0-0 6, Joe Harvey 2-6 1-2 5, Eric Hammond 3-7 2-2 9, James Loe 6-14 1-1 15, Nikola Grbicic 2-3 0-0 4, Santwon Latunde 4-8 0-0 8. Totals: 29-57 6-10 70.

Three-pointers: Coffeyville 9-22 (Seymore 3-9, Thompson 1-2, Payne 1-1, Kennedy 2-6, Eberhardt 2-2, Jackson 0-1, Lumb 0-1), Cowley 6-14 (Muncy 3-3, Dovonou 0-1, Hammond 1-2, Loe 2-7, Grbicic 0-1). Rebounds: Coffeyville 29 (Eberhardt 7), Cowley 26 (Hammond, Latunde 6). Assists: Coffeyville 8 (Thompson, Payne 2), Cowley 7 (Hammond 2). Turnovers: Coffeyville 12, Cowley 18. Total fouls: Coffeyville 12, Cowley 16. Fouled out: Dovonou. Technicals: none.