February 28, 2008

Cowley picks up 10th straight win, 73-56 over Fort Scott

Overcoming a sluggish first half, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team picked up its 10th straight win with a 73-56 victory over Fort Scott Wednesday at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley is now 27-2 overall and 16-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers’ 27 wins are the most since Cowley won 28 games during the 1956-57 season.

Fort Scott entered the game with a record of 7-22, but trailed just 32-27 at the end of the first half. Cowley, which was coming off an emotional win over Independence on Saturday, picked up its play in the second half.

The Tigers’ lead grew to double digits (42-32) on a basket by Marcus Butler with 16:40 remaining, and Cowley led by at least 10 points over the game’s final 11 minutes of play.

Despite Fort Scott’s record, the Greyhounds have played teams tough as they are only being outscored by an average of seven points per game.

“We did a better job the second half,” Cowley head coach Steve Eck said. “For us to come out of here with a 17-point victory, you have got to feel pretty good about that.”

Cowley had five players score in double figures. Eric McKinney continued his stellar play as he finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Montrell McDonald added 12 points and eight boards. Butler and Preston Brown (pictured) each finished with 11 points, and Jack Crowder chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Fort Scott’s Arsenio Williams finished with his average of 21 points, but made just 9-of-22 shots from the floor and 3-of-17 attempts at the free-throw line.

Cowley will attempt to capture its first outright conference title since the 1990-91 season when they play at Neosho County Saturday at 8 p.m. Cowley was a co-conference champion in the 1999-2000 season.

Box score:
Fort Scott (56): Brandon Dougherty 2-7 0-2 4, Kyle Grant 8-18 1-3 18, Kolby Hopkins 1-3 0-0 2, Arsenio Williams 9-22 3-17 21, Willie Bland 1-3 2-4 4, Brandon Kinnie 1-7 5-6 7, Josh Sutton 0-0 0-0 0, Keenan Curry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-60 11-32 56.

Cowley (73): Preston Brown 5-12 1-1 11, Reggie Cook 0-2 0-0 0, Montrell McDonald 4-8 4-5 12, Kyle Hammerschmidt 2-5 1-3 7, Chris Rhymes 3-7 0-0 6, Mike Atwater 0-2 0-0 0, Marcus Butler 3-6 3-4 11, Jack Crowder 2-8 6-8 10, Zach Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Eric McKinney 7-11 2-3 16. Totals: 26-61 17-24 73.

Three-pointers: Fort Scott 1-3 (Dougherty 0-1, Grant 1-1, Williams 0-1), Cowley 4-17 (Brown 0-2, Cook 0-1, McDonald 0-2, Hammerschmidt 2-4, Rhymes 0-1, Atwater 0-2, Butler 2-4, Crowder 0-1). Rebounds: Fort Scott 39 (Williams 14), Cowley 44 (McKinney 15). Assists: Fort Scott 3 (Dougherty 2), Cowley 16 (Hammerschmidt 6). Turnovers: Fort Scott 13, Cowley 11. Total fouls: Fort Scott 21, Cowley 22. Fouled out: Bland. Technicals: Kinnie.

Photo by  Donita Clausen/Traveler.