February 25, 2010

Tigers win at Kansas City, claim third straight conference title

With Wednesday night’s 69-61 win at Kansas City, the Cowley College men’s basketball team saw to it that they would not have to share the conference title with anyone. The victory helped Cowley capture its third straight conference title and improve to 14-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Tommy DeSalme, who is in his first season as coach of the Tigers, was happy for his team.

“I am proud of our kids, to win outright is nice,” DeSalme said. “They can’t take this conference championship away from us.”

Cowley is now 20-9 overall and 14-3 in the Jayhawk East. The Tigers, who are assured of hosting the first-round of the Region VI Tournament next Tuesday at 7 p.m., remain a half game ahead of Coffeyville and one game in front of Allen County for the East’s No. 1 seed in the region heading into Saturday’s regular season finale at Neosho County at 2 p.m.

“We have still got a lot to play for,” DeSalme said. “We are playing for the No. 1 seed and want to be playing our best basketball at this time of year.”

On Wednesday, Cowley shot 58 percent in the opening half as they built a 15-point lead (43-28). The Tigers would still lead 57-44 at the 10-minute mark before the Blue Devils used a 13-2 run to cut Cowley’s lead to 59-57 with five minutes remaining.

With the Tigers clinging to the two-point advantage, Cowley sophomore Tyrus McGee hit a huge three-pointer to push the Tigers’ lead back to five points (62-57).

“He hit probably the biggest shot of the season,” DeSalme said.

With Cowley’s lead still at five points (64-59) with less than two minutes remaining, McGee slammed home a dunk and the Tigers went on to the eight-point win.

Despite shooting only 33 percent in the second half, Cowley made enough plays down the stretch to improve to 8-4 in true road contests.

“I am very proud of the kids, they fought hard and found a way to make plays,” DeSalme said.

Kansas City’s Derrick Denney, who entered Wednesday’s game averaging 17.3 points per game, was held to six points on 2-of-11 shooting. Denney and freshman guard Scott Fruehling make up one of the top three-point shooting duos in the country as they had combined for 186 three-pointers made through the Blue Devils’ first 28 games. The duo never got on track on Wednesday as they made just 5-of-19 three-point attempts.

“We did a good job on them,” DeSalme said. “Taking them out of the game was what we wanted to do.”
Dennis Tinnon, the conference’s third leading rebounder with an average of 10.3 boards per game, led Kansas City with 24 points and 18 rebounds in the defeat. The Blue Devils are now 20-9 overall and 8-9 in the Jayhawk East.

McGee, who finished with 18 points, went 4-of-7 from three-point range as Cowley went 10-of-20 from behind the arch as a team. Sophomore Caprest Rhone added a pair of three-pointers and finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.

“This was probably Caprest’s most complete game of the season,” DeSalme said.

Freshman Kelton Marshall also played well and took advantage of the opportunity to start by scoring a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

“He earned a starting spot and played really well,” DeSalme said.

Cowley’s game at Neosho County on Saturday can be heard on KSOK Radio 95.9 FM. A victory would assure the Tigers of the Jayhawk East’s No. 1 seed at the Region VI Tournament.

“I am looking forward to playing at Neosho, the guys have done a good job on our long distance trips,” DeSalme said.

Box score:
Cowley (69): Lance Russell 1-4 0-0 3, Kelton Marshall 8-12 1-1 18, Jordan Lankster 1-1 0-0 2, Canon Fields 3-9 3-4 9, Tyrus McGee 7-15 0-0 18, Caprest Rhone 4-5 2-2 12, Kalub Long 0-0 0-0 0, Brent Schuck 0-0 0-0 0, Julio Rosario 0-1 0-0 0, Joseph Wakefield 0-0 0-0 0, Dominick Cornelius 2-8 0-0 6, Michael Copeland 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 26-56 7-9 69.

Kansas City (61): Dennis Tinnon 11-16 2-3 24, Andre Metoyer 5-10 1-3 11, Melvin Gatson 1-5 3-4 5, Scott Fruehling 4-9 0-1 11, Derrick Denny 2-11 0-0 6, Chris McDonald 0-0 0-0 0, Monty Taylor 2-3 0-0 4, Jonathan Wright 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-55 6-11 61.

Three-pointers: Cowley 10-20 (Russell 1-3, Marshall 1-2, McGee 4-7, Rhone 2-3, Cornelius 2-4), Kansas City 5-21 (Gatson 0-1, Fruehling 3-8, Denny 2-11, Wright 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 31 (Cornelius, Copeland 5), Kansas City 36 (Tinnon 18). Assists: Cowley 17 (Fields 7), Kansas City 12 (Fruehling 6). Turnovers: Cowley 12, Kansas City 19. Total fouls: Cowley 15, Kansas City 12. Fouled out none. Technicals: none.