Tiger basketball team suffers first defeat

Having won its first six games of the season, the No. 25-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team looked on its way to win number seven Saturday at home against Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa. However, the Mavericks rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to hand Cowley its first loss of the season, 57-49.

Both teams shot poorly in the first half as Cowley went into the halftime intermission with a 23-17 lead. The Tigers then stormed out of the locker room by scoring the first 10 points of the second half to lead 33-17.

The good feelings the Tigers would have would be short lived, as Cowley would be whistled for two technical fouls over the next minute and a half. The Mavericks would slowly chip away at the Tigers’ lead, but Cowley still led 43-35 after a steal and converted lay up by Reggie Cook with 5:44 remaining.

NOC proceeded to go on a 12-2 run to grab its first lead of the game at 47-45 with 1:55 left to play. The game was tied at 49-49 before the Mavericks’ Bayshon Payne drained a three-pointer with 46.8 seconds left. After Cowley’s Chris Rhymes missed a three-pointer to tie, NOC’s Demetrece Young hit a pair of free throws and the Mavericks went on to win by eight.

Following the first of Cowley’s two technicals, NOC outscored the Tigers 40-16 to end the game. The loss drops Cowley’s record to 6-1 on the season.

Cowley out-shot NOC 38.8 percent to 30.9 percent from the floor, but was outscored 19-10 at the free-throw line.

"We didn't attack the zone," Cowley head coach Steve Eck said. "We didn't attack the ball inside. We didn't get any free throws inside there. Basically, it was good defense on their part because their team was very physical."

Preston Brown was the lone Tiger to score in double figures as he finished with 10 points and three rebounds. Cook added nine points and four rebounds.

NOC improves to 3-4 with the win. Young led the Mavericks with 12 points, while Payne added 11.

Cowley will look to get back on track tonight when they host the Sterling College JV at 7 p.m.

Box score:
NOC (57): Reuben Clayton 3-12 0-0 7, Renardo Rhone 0-2 8-10 8, Wes Badley 1-5 0-0 2, Mike McNeil 3-5 2-2 8, Blake Livingston 1-6 4-6 6, Tyler Chronister 0-1 0-0 0, Demetrece Young 4-11 4-4 12, Bayshon Payne 4-7 0-0 11, Carl Curry 0-1 0-0 0, Abby Kabba 1-2 1-2 3, Sam Bartlett 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 17-55 19-26 57.

Cowley (49): Preston Brown 3-7 4-4 10, Reggie Cook 4-11 0-2 9, Montrell McDonald 2-5 2-3 6, Kyle Hammerschmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Chris Rhymes 3-7 2-2 8, Zach Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Atwater 1-1 0-0 2, Marcus Butler 0-0 0-0 0, Edwin Hutton 0-0 1-2 1, Jack Crowder 1-5 0-0 2, Jeremy McCarty 3-5 0-0 6, Eric McKinney 2-6 1-2 5. Totals: 19-49 10-15 49.

Three-pointers: NOC 4-18 (Clayton 1-3, Young 0-5, McNeil 0-2, Payne 3-5, Curry 0-1, Bartlett 0-2), Cowley 1-14 (Brown 0-2, Cook 1-3, McDonald 0-2, Hammerschmidt 0-1, Rhymes 0-2, Miller 0-1, McCarty 0-1, McKinney 0-2). Rebounds: NOC 26 (McNeil 6), Cowley 38 (Cook 4). Assists: NOC 3 (McNeil 2), Cowley 5 (Cook, Rhymes 2). Turnovers: NOC 7, Cowley 13, Total fouls: NOC 21, Cowley 18. Technicals: McKinney, Cowley bench.