February 4, 2010

Tigers suffer overtime defeat at Allen County

Fighting back from an 11-point second half deficit, the Cowley college men’s basketball team sent its game at Allen County on Wednesday into overtime thanks to a basket by Canon Fields at the end of regulation.

It appeared the Tigers expended most of its energy trying to get back into the game, as they did not score for more than three minutes to begin overtime. With Allen County scoring the first eight points of the extra session the Tigers could not produce another rally as they lost by a score of 89-84.

“I thought we would come out with energy after tying it up and instead we gave up a wide open three-pointer to start overtime and scored two points in the first four minutes,” Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme said. “This was our ball game to have.”

Things started well for Cowley as they raced out to a 13-2 lead but Allen County answered with a 15-2 run to grab a 17-15 lead on a basket by Gavin Cole with 10:19 left in the first half.

The Red Devils led 33-28 at the end of the half and increased its lead to 55-44 following a basket by Chris Lee with 10:15 remaining.

Trailing 63-56 with 4:10 left, Dominick Cornelius hit a three-pointer to cut Allen County’s lead to four points. Cornelius would hit another three pointer with a little over a minute remaining to pull the Tigers within one point of the lead at 68-67.

The teams would trade baskets before Allen County’s Aaron Jackson made 1-of-2 free throws to put the Red Devils up 71-69 with 25 seconds showing on the clock.

With a chance to tie the game or win on a three-pointer, Cowley’s Caprest Rhone missed a jumper with three seconds left but Fields was there for the rebound and putback at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

The furious rally would not be enough to prevent the Tigers from dropping their second game in a row as they are now 15-9 overall and 9-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Allen County is now 12-9 overall and 7-3 in the conference.

After shooting only 33 percent in the first half, Cowley made 21-of-32 shots over the final 25 minutes of play. Unfortunately, they were unable to slow down Allen County, which shot 53 percent from the floor.
Cowley freshman Tyrus McGee led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the floor, while Cornelius and Rhone added 17 points apiece.

Jackson and Dennis Rumph teamed to lead Allen County as they each finished with 21 points. Andra Bailey added 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Red Devils out-rebounded Cowley 38-29.

The Tigers will return home to face Independence Saturday at 7 p.m. The Pirates are 13-9 overall and 6-4 in the Jayhawk East. At halftime of Saturday’s game four new members will be inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame. The new members are Dave Burroughs (baseball coach), Tim Shanahan (tennis), Kristi “Buggy” (Davis) Loney (softball), and Francis Browning Pipestem (football).

“Hall of Fame night is a big night for Cowley College,” DeSalme said.

Box score:
Cowley (84): Canon Fields 4-9 0-0 8, Caprest Rhone 6-10 3-5 17, Tyrus McGee 10-17 2-2 25, Dominick Cornelius 5-12 5-6 17, Michael Copeland 2-2 2-4 6, Kalub Long 0-1 0-0 0, AJ Barber 0-2 0-0 0, Lance Russell 0-1 0-0 0, Julio Rosario 1-3 0-0 2, Joseph Wakefield 0-1 0-0 0, Kelton Marshall 4-6 0-0 9, Jordan Lankster 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 32-65 12-17 84.

Allen County (89): Dennis Rumph 9-15 2-2 21, Erik Law 2-4 0-0 5, Andra Bailey 4-5 7-11 16, Aaron Jackson 6-11 8-9 21, Keevis Tukes 3-5 5-8 13, Gavin Cole 3-4 2-6 9, Greg Hayes 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Lee 2-8 0-0 4. Totals: 29-54 24-36 89.

Three-pointers: Cowley 8-25 (Fields 0-3, Rhone 2-4, McGee 3-8, Cornelius 2-6, Barber 0-1, Russell 0-1, Marshall 1-2), Allen 7-16 (Rumph 1-2, Law 1-3, Bailey 1-1, Jackson 1-4, Tukes 2-4, Cole 1-1, Hayes 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 29 (Copeland 5), Allen 38 (Bailey 13). Assists: Cowley 9 (Fields 4), Allen 12 (Bailey 6). Turnovers: Cowley 22, Allen 20. Total fouls: Cowley 25, Allen 14. Fouled out: Fields, Cornelius. Technicals: none.