January 17, 2008

Cowley survives another OT thriller, stay unbeaten in Jayhawk East

For the second time in its last three games, the No. 12-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team was pushed to overtime before coming away with the win.

The Tigers got a scare from Johnson County before pulling out the 77-75 victory Wednesday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium. The win was Cowley’s ninth in a row and improves the Tigers’ record to 15-1 overall and 4-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Cowley won another overtime contest last Wednesday at Allen County and was coming off an impressive 83-68 win over Coffeyville on Saturday.

“Coming off the win against Coffeyville we came out flat tonight,” Cowley head coach Steve Eck said. “It’s up to the guys to bring the intensity every game.”

Cowley trailed 34-31 at the end of the first half and 45-38 after a basket by the Cavaliers’ Quintin Totta with 14:38 remaining. However, freshman Jack Crowder keyed a 18-3 run that saw the Tigers go on top 56-48 with eight minutes left to play. Crowder, who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, scored six points during the run.

Cowley maintained an eight-point lead (66-58) with less than three minutes remaining and led 68-64 with one minute left. Johnson County’s David Yadrich hit a three-pointer to cut the Tigers’ lead to 68-67 and the Cavaliers then stole the in bounds pass, which Totta converted into a go-ahead lay up with 42 seconds left.

Johnson County then fouled Cowley’s Preston Brown on a shot attempt with 34 seconds remaining. Brown missed the first free-throw attempt to fall to 1-of-7 from the line, but hit the second to tie the game at 69-69.

With a chance to win the game, Johnson County’s Nafis Ricks had his three-point attempt blocked by Montrell McDonald with five seconds left, and Kyle Speed’s shot at the buzzer was no good, thus sending the game to overtime.

Cowley would score the first two baskets of the extra session and held a 77-75 lead after Chris Rhymes hit one of two free throws with 26.5 seconds left. Johnson County got the ball to Anthony Dobson, who missed a 12-foot jumper with six seconds left. Fred Patton grabbed the offensive rebound and missed a short put back, and McDonald pulled down the rebound and dribbled out the final two seconds on the clock.

“We got some huge stops, one at the end of regulation and a couple at the end of overtime,” Eck said. “Give Johnson (County) credit they came out and got after us.”

Johnson County had four players score in double figures as they became the first team to shoot over 40 percent (43.5 percent) against the Tigers. Ricks led the Cavaliers with 15 points. Johnson County is now 9-7 overall and 1-3 in the Jayhawk East.

Rhymes led Cowley with 26 points and is averaging 25.3 points over the last three games. Eric McKinney scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, while McDonald added 10 points for the Tigers.

Beginning with its game Saturday at Highland at 4 p.m., Cowley will play four road games in seven days.

“We’re ready for that and are going to get ready for Highland on Saturday,” Eck said.

Box score:
Johnson County (75): Jonathan Jackson 4-9 2-2 10, Quintin Totta 4-10 0-1 9, Kyle Speed 5-11 1-2 13, Nafis Ricks 5-13 5-7 15, Anthony Dobson 2-8 0-0 4, Patrick Nemechek 0-1 0-0 0, David Yadrich 5-6 0-0 13, Fred Patton 4-10 0-0 8, Travis French 1-1 1-2 3. Totals: 30-69 9-14 75.

Cowley (77): Preston Brown 1-8 2-8 4, Reggie Cook 1-7 0-0 2, Montrell McDonald 5-10 0-3 10, Chris Rhymes 9-16 8-10 26, Eric McKinney 6-10 2-2 15, Mike Atwater 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Butler 1-1 0-0 2, Jack Crowder 3-5 2-5 8, Kyle Hammerschmidt 3-4 0-0 8, Zach Miller 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 30-62 14-28 77.

Three-pointers: Johnson County 6-15 (Jackson 0-1, Totta 1-2, Speed 2-5, Ricks 0-1, Dobson 0-2, Yadrich 3-4), Cowley 3-10 (Cook 0-4, McDonald 0-1, Rhymes 0-1, McKinney 1-1, Hammerschmidt 2-3). Rebounds: Johnson County 31 (Patton 7), Cowley 37 (Crowder 10). Assists: Johnson County 14 (Ricks 6), Cowley 13 (Cook 4). Turnovers: Johnson County 18, Cowley 16. Fouls: Johnson County 23, Cowley 16. Fouled out: Jackson, Ricks. Technicals: none.