November 13, 2006                    

Tiger men storm back to beat No. 16-ranked Seminole State 66-64

Just seven days after suffering a 71-59 loss at Seminole State, the Cowley College men’s basketball team overcame a 14-point second half deficit Saturday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium to beat No. 16-ranked Seminole State 66-64 on Joe Harvey’s long jumper with 4.1 seconds left.

Harvey (pictured), a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Great Bend, spearheaded the Tigers’ comeback from a 43-29 deficit early in the second half. Harvey hit a three-pointer to cut the Trojans’ lead to 46-44 and then tied the game after stealing the ball for a breakaway dunk that capped a 17-3 run.

Cowley grabbed its first lead of the second half at 55-54 on a free-throw by sophomore post player Santwon Latunde. The lead was the Tigers first since the score was 12-10.

The score would be tied four times in the game’s final five minutes of play, the last tie occurred when the Trojans’ Robert Jarvis hit an arching 15-footer to tie the score at 64-64 with 28 seconds left. Thus, setting the stage for Harvey’s late game heroics.

After the inbounds, Cowley’s James Loe dribbled the ball out top before cutting inside and drawing the defense at him, Loe then whipped a cross court pass to a wide open Harvey, who drilled the 18-foot jumper from the right baseline.

Seminole State had time for one final shot as they in bounded the ball to Jarvis, who dribbled to the other end of the court and fired a three-pointer from the top of the key that was no good as the buzzer sounded.

The come from behind win against a ranked opponent was a good one for the young Tiger squad.

“The guys are buying into what we are doing and this was a big win for them,” Cowley head coach Brian Jackson said. “I’m extremely proud of how the guy’s fought.”

Making the win even more impressive is the fact Cowley did it without leading scorer Sanijay Watts, who missed the final 10:03 with leg cramps. Watts finished with 21 points and seven rebounds.

Making up for the loss of Watts was Latunde, who scored 14 of Cowley’s final 18 points, and scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half. Harvey also stepped up with nine of his season-high 13 points in the game’s final 20 minutes of play.

“You have to be able to rely on your sophomores to do good things and they did that tonight,” Jackson said.

After allowing Seminole State to shoot 65.2 percent from the floor in the first half, Cowley held the Trojans to just 31 percent shooting in the second half.

“The guys came out and did not make many mistakes defensively in the second half,” Jackson said. “When our defense is doing what it is supposed to, it is tough to score on us.”

Jarvis, who scored 30 points in the win at Seminole on Nov. 4, led the Trojans with 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting. Jerome Phillips added 10 points and six rebounds. The loss drops Seminole State’s record to 3-1 on the season.

The victory improves the Tigers’ record to 3-1. Cowley will be back in action tonight when they host the Friends University JV at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on KACY 102.5 FM Arkansas City.

Box score:

Cowley (66): Sanijay Watts 10-15 1-3 21, Matt Muncy 0-1 1-2 1, Ludovic Dovonou 0-4 2-4 2, Joe Harvey 6-8 0-0 13, Eric Hammond 1-5 0-0 2, Damen Harris 1-6 2-4 4, James Loe 0-3 2-2 2, Nikola Grbicic 0-0 0-3 0, Santwon Latunde 8-12 5-11 21. Totals: 26-54 13-29 66.

Seminole State (64): David Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Robert Jarvis 7-20 2-2 19, Adam Terneus 3-4 0-0 8, Garrett Steinmetz 2-7 0-0 4, Josh Smith 0-0 1-2 1, Jon Jonsson 1-2 3-4 5, Bret Jackson 3-5 2-2 9, Jerome Phillips 2-3 0-0 4, Tyrone Goldsmith 4-7 2-2 10, JD Davis 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 24-52 10-12 64.

Three-pointers: Cowley 1-5 (Watts 0-1, Harvey 1-1, Hammond 0-1, Harris 0-2), Seminole State 6-19 (Jarvis 3-11, Terneus 2-3, Steinmetz 0-4, Jackson 1-1). Rebounds: Cowley 31 (Latunde 8), Seminole State (Goldsmith 6). Assists: Cowley 11 (Hammond 5), Seminole State 11 (Thomas, Jonsson 3). Turnovers: Cowley 13, Seminole State 18. Total fouls: Cowley 20, Seminole State 23. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.