January 18, 2010

Cowley wins at Johnson County, improves to 5-1 in Jayhawk East

 Keeping pace with the conference leaders, the Cowley College men's basketball team picked up a big road win at Johnson County on Saturday. Dominick Cornelius and Tyrus McGee combined to score 29 second half points as the Tigers rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat the Cavaliers 75-72.

With Cowley trailing 49-45, Cornelius scored eight straight points to give the Tigers a 53-49 lead with just under 11 minutes left to play. The game would remain close when McGee hit a huge three-pointer to stretch Cowley's lead to 72-65 with 1:45 remaining.

Johnson County would not go away easily as they came back to cut the Tigers' lead to 74-72 on a pair of free throws by Ronnie Boggs with 18.8 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Cowley point guard Canon Fields was fouled with 7.9 seconds left. Fields missed the first free throw but made the second, putting Cowley ahead by three (75-72). The Cavaliers then raced the ball down court and Ryan Magdziarz's three-point attempt with two seconds left was off the mark and the Tigers held on for the three-point win.

The victory was the Tigers' second straight on the road, a fact that was not lost on its head coach Tommy DeSalme.

"This is a big win for us on the road, Johnson County is a good team," Desalme said.

The victory improved the Tigers' record to 11-7 overall and 5-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Cowley trails only Neosho County and Coffeyville, which are both 4-0 in the conference. The loss drops the Cavaliers' record to 9-7 overall and 0-4 in the Jayhawk East.

Cornelius led Cowley with 18 points, while McGee added 16. Fields also came up big as he hit three free throws in the final 30 seconds and finished with 12 points.

The Tigers will return home to play Labette Monday at 7 p.m. The Cardinals are 6-10 overall and 1-3 in the conference. Cowley is 6-1 at home this season.