Cowley picks up 94-84 road win at NOC

Playing in a place they have had very little success over the years, the No. 25-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team showed this is a different team than in year’s past as the Tigers built a 16-point halftime lead (55-39) en route to a 94-84 win at Northern Oklahoma College Tuesday in Tonkawa, Okla.

Cowley had lost 15 of its last 23 meetings between the two teams with the majority of the losses coming at Tonkawa. However, new Tiger head coach Steve Eck never lost to NOC while head coach at Redlands the past six seasons.

“I never lost to Northern Oklahoma in my six years at Redlands and I sure didn’t want to start losing tonight,” Eck said. “You have got to be tough to come in here (and win).”

Three players that were with Eck at Redlands last season played major roles in the win as Chris Rhymes scored a game-high 22 points, Preston Brown (pictured) finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Reggie Cook added 14 points.

“I thought those guys stepped up and did a good job,” Eck said.

Led by Rhymes’ 14 first-half points, the Tigers held a double-digit lead for the majority of the half and went into the halftime intermission leading by 16 points.

The final 20 minutes of play featured a game of runs as NOC scored the first eight points of the second half, but Cowley quickly answered to push its lead back to 13 points. Another 12-2 run by the Mavericks cut Cowley’s lead to 70-67 with 8:28 remaining.

Instead of getting flustered, the Tigers rattled off the next four baskets, the last of which was capped by an emphatic dunk by sophomore Montrell McDonald to put Cowley ahead 78-67 with 5:45 left to play. McDonald finished with 15 points on the night.

The Tigers continued to pour it on as their lead grew to 20 points (94-74) before NOC scored the game’s final 10 points over the final two minutes of play.

Cowley shot 61 percent (33-54) from the floor, while holding NOC to just 41 percent (23-56) shooting. Abby Kabba led NOC with 14 points and six rebounds in the defeat.

Cowley, which is now 3-0 on the season, will prepare to play in the Otero Classic Friday and Saturday in Otero, Colo. The Tigers will play Trinidad (Colo.) Friday at 3 p.m., and will then face Otero at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Trinidad picked up an impressive road win over Dodge City in its season opener.
“I scheduled these games so we could go up there and have two pretty good games on the road,” Eck said. “Trinidad has a darn good ball club and then we come back and play Otero at their place. They will be tough games.”

Box score:
Cowley (94): Preston Brown 8-12 5-6 21, Reggie Cook 3-5 6-6 14, Montrell McDonald 5-6 3-4 13, Chris Rhymes 8-13 6-10 22, Eric McKinney 3-83-3 9, Mike Atwater 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Butler 1-2 0-2 2, Jack Crowder III 2-3 0-0 4, Jeremy McCarty 3-4 2-4 9, Kyle Hammerschmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Miller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 33-54 25-35 94.

NOC (84): Mike McNeil 4-7 3-4 13, Wes Badley 2-5 3-4 7, Blake Livingston 2-3 2-2 6, Demetrece Young 3-11 4-4 12, Reuben Clayton 4-13 4-6 13, Bayshon Payne 2-3 2-2 8, Tyler Karr 0-3 0-0 0, Abby Kabba 4-5 5-8 14, Renardo Rhone 0-2 3-4 3, Javier Nasarre 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Bartlett 2-3 3-4 8. Totals: 23-56 29-38 84.

Three-pointers: Cowley 3-11 (Brown 0-1, Cook 2-4, McDonald 0-1, Rhymes 0-2, McKinney 0-1, Butler 0-1, McCarty 1-1), NOC 9-25 (McNeil 2-3, Young 2-8, Clayton 1-7, Payne 2-3, Karr 0-1, Kabba 1-1, Rhone 0-1, Bartlett 1-3). Rebounds: Cowley 28 (Brown 10), NOC 32 (Young 7). Assists: Cowley 11 (McCarty 4), NOC 12 (Young 5). Turnovers: Cowley 14, NOC 18. Total fouls: Cowley 28, NOC 24. Technicals: McKinney.