February 7, 2008

No. 13-ranked Tigers defeat Allen County 83-70

Falling behind 11-0 to Allen County Wednesday at W.S. Scott Auditorium, the No.13-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team found themselves in trouble from the start. Cowley rallied to trail by just three points at the end of the first half (39-36) and grabbed its first lead of the game at 49-48 with 14:15 remaining. Cowley would slowly pull away to win its fourth straight, 83-70.

After shooting 47 percent in the first half, Allen County shot just 33 percent in the game’s final 20 minutes of play.

“Our defense was key to the game,” Cowley head coach Steve Eck said.

Brothers Perry Petty and Tyray Petty entered the game averaging a combined 34 points per game, but were held to a combined 9-of-34 shooting from the floor, and 2-of-14 shooting from three-point range.

Tyray finished with just nine points, while Perry ended with 11.

“When you hold them to nine and 11 points you have a pretty good chance to win,” Eck said.

Sophomore Eric McKinney led the Tigers’ comeback as he had four monster dunks and finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

“Eric played probably his best game of the year,” Eck said.

Montrell McDonald finished with 10 points and did a good job helping contain the Petty brothers, while Preston Brown added 13 points and nine boards. Chris Rhymes and Jack Crowder also scored in double figures as they finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Cowley shot 52.4 percent in the win as they improve to 21-2 overall and 10-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Uros Komadinic led the Red Devils with 20 points in the defeat. Allen County is 13-10 overall and 6-5 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will now prepare for a tough road game as they will play at Coffeyville (16-6 overall, 7-3 Jayhawk East) Saturday at 7 p.m.

“Coffeyville has a good team, we need to play team basketball and see what happens,” Eck said.

Box score:
Allen County (70): Tim Miser 2-5 0-0 6, Tyray Petty 4-15 0-2 9, Perry Petty 5-19 0-1 11, Uros Komadinic 8-12 0-0 20, William Sloanes 4-5 3-3 11, Micah Handley 1-2 0-0 3, Christian Hill 1-3 0-0 3, Jackson Putman 1-3 0-0 3, Avery Braggs 0-0 2-2 2, Timothy Stinnett 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Nelson 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 27-67 5-8 70.

Cowley (83): Mike Atwater 0-0 0-0 0, Preston Brown 6-15 1-2 13, Montrell McDonald 2-5 4-4 10, Kyle Hammerschmidt 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Rhymes 6-11 4-6 16, Marcus Butler 2-4 0-2 4, Reggie Cook 3-5 0-3 7, Jack Crowder 7-12 0-1 14, Zach Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Eric McKinney 7-8 5-8 19. Totals: 33-63 14-26 83.

Three-pointers: Allen 11-30 (Miser 2-3, T. Petty 1-7, P. Petty 1-7, Komadinic 4-5, Handley 1-2, Hill 1-2, Putman 1-3, Nelson 0-1), Cowley 3-10 (Brown 0-1, McDonald 2-2, Hammerschmidt 0-1, Rhymes 0-2, Butler 0-1, Cook 1-3). Rebounds: Allen 29 (T. Petty 10), Cowley 36 (McKinney, Brown 9). Assists: Allen 15 (P. Petty 7), Cowley 18 (McDonald 6). Turnovers: Allen 20, Cowley 12. Fouls: Allen 21, Cowley 13. Fouled out: McDonald. Technicals: none.