Tigers improve to 5-0 with pair of wins in Colorado

Playing at the Holiday Inn Classic in La Junta, Co., the No. 25-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team earned wins against Trinidad State and Otero Junior College.

On Friday, Cowley rallied from a 30-28 halftime deficit to defeat Trinidad State 67-60. The Tigers then came back to defeat host Otero 85-77 on Saturday.

“We played two pretty good teams and we hung in there to get the wins,” Cowley head coach Steve Eck said.

Chris Rhymes led a balanced Cowley attack against Trinidad as he finished with 11 points. Jeremy McCarty and Preston Brown chipped in with 10 points a piece.

Against Otero on Saturday, Cowley led by double digits for most of the second half and led by as many as 17 points (85-68) in the win.

“We shot the ball pretty well against Otero,” Eck said.

Rhymes had a huge night as he went 9-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line to finish with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds. McCarty hit four three-pointers en route to 18 points, while Reggie Cook went 7-of-9 from the floor and finished with 16 points.

Cowley, which is now 5-0 on the season, will host the Friends University JV Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“We need to get back to practice, correct some things, and revisit some things,” Eck said.

Cowley scoring against Trinidad: Rhymes 11, Brown 10, McCarty 10, Eric McKinney 8, Montrell McDonald 8, Marcus Butler 6, Kyle Hammerschmidt 6, Cook 4, Jack Crowder 2, Zach Miller 2.

Cowley scoring against Otero: Rhymes 23, McCarty 18, Cook 16, Crowder 12, Brown 10, McDonald 4, Miller 2.