Tiger basketball goes 1-1 on the weekend
November 23, 2015
The Cowley College men's basketball team bounced back from a 93-81 loss to State Fair Community College Friday in Coffeyville to defeat Northern Oklahoma College-Enid 76-74 Saturday in Enid, OK.
Friday's game was never in doubt. With State Fair racing out to a 23-3 lead and blistering the nets with 67.7 percent (21-of-31) shooting, the Roadrunners took a commanding 55-29 halftime lead.
Despite the large halftime deficit, the Tigers continued to battle and got within 10 points of the lead before losing 93-81.
"We played hard and with a purpose the last four minutes of the first half and the entire second half," Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme said. "I was glad to see us step up and fight back."
Tiger freshman Brian Harness came off the bench to lead all scorers with 26 points. Harness finished 8-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point range, while hitting all seven of his foul shots.
Sophomore Jamon Fulton added 11 points and Soufiyane Diakite chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in 19 minutes of action. Kamaal Davis, a 6'10" freshman from Chicago, IL, had his best game of the season in the loss as he came off the bench to contribute six points and seven rebounds.
State Fair's Willie Jimerson (24 points, seven rebounds, seven assists), Ronnie Rausseau (23 points), and Asem Johnson (19 points) combined to score 66 points on 25-of-41 shooting.
State Fair is now 8-1 after suffering a 106-99 loss at Coffeyville on Saturday.
Cowley again trailed early on Saturday, this time by a score of 12-2. However, the Tigers answered with a 12-0 run to go in front of NOC-Enid 14-12.
The Jets would lead 40-37 at the end of the first half and increased its advantage to 10 points five minutes into the second half.
Trailing by 10, Cowley sophomore Terell Gandy drilled a three-pointer that started the Tigers' comeback.
Cowley would lead 75-70 with 1:30 remaining before the Jets pulled within 75-74 and had the ball with a chance at the lead in the game's final 10 seconds. However, Cowley freshman Atir Cherne stole the ball from the Jets' Cade Upshaw and passed it ahead to Diakite, who was fouled with 2.2 seconds left.
Diakite made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to put Cowley on top 76-74 and freshman Kyrece Mills stole a long pass attempt by NOC-Enid to seal the Tigers' first road win of the season.
"That was a huge gut check win for us coming off a tough game the night before," DeSalme said.
Cowley had five players score in double figures with Harness and Diakite leading the way with 14 points apiece. Freshman Pedro Da Silva added 13 points, while Mills and Gandy each finished with 12 points.
Freshman point guard Brett Wright also played well as he came off the bench to contribute eight assists in the two games.
"This is a big step for Brett getting confidence in the college game," DeSalme said.
After scoring 41 points in the Jets' 99-86 loss at Cowley on Nov. 14, Ty Lazenby finished with 25 points on Saturday. NOC-Enid is now 8-2 on the season with both losses coming to the Tigers.
Cowley, 6-3 on the season, will host the Best Western Plus Patterson Park Inn Basketball Classic on Nov. 27-28. On Friday, the Tigers will host North Arkansas College (7-1) at 7 p.m., then on Saturday, Cowley will battle No. 8-ranked Hill College (8-0) which has advanced to the Final Four at each of the last two national tournaments.
"This is a fun stretch right here," DeSalme said. "We have four big days of practice before facing two really good teams."
Box score from Friday:
State Fair (93): Willie Jimerson 9-15 5-10 24, Joshuea Bailey 2-4 0-0 5, Ronnie Rausseau 8-15 5-5 23, Clint Robinson 3-4 1-4 8, Ryan Surface 1-3 0-0 3, Asem Johnson 8-11 2-5 19, Will Jones 1-2 0-0 2, Craig McKenzie 0-0 3-4 3, Kipras Pumputis 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 34-57 18-32 93.
Cowley (81): Mason Loewen 1-2 0-0 2, Jamon Fulton 4-8 2-2 11, Kyrece Mills 1-8 5-6 7, Pedro Da Silva 3-4 0-0 6, Soufiyane Diakite 4-8 2-3 10, Brian Harness 8-14 7-7 26, Kamaal Davis 3-4 0-0 6, Jarvis Cannon 1-6 2-2 4, Atir Cherne 0-7 2-2 2, Terell Gandy 2-4 0-0 4, Brett Wright 1-3 0-0 3, Adolfo Barrios 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 28-71 20-22 81.
Three-pointers: State Fair 7-18 (Rausseau 2-7, Surface 1-3, Robinson 1-2, Bailey 1-2, Jimerson 1-2, Johnson 1-2), Cowley 5-25 (Harness 3-4, Fulton 1-2, Wright 1-2, Cherne 0-5, Mills 0-4, Cannon 0-3, Loewen 0-1, Gandy 0-1, Barrios 0-1, Da Silva 0-1, Diakite 0-1). Rebounds: State Fair 36 (Brown, Jimerson 7), Cowley 38 (Diakite, Davis 7). Assists: State Fair 18 (Jimerson 7), Cowley 13 (Wright 4). Turnovers: State Fair 20, Cowley 18. Total fouls: State Fair 26, Cowley 26. Fouled out: Mills, Diakite. Technicals: Bailey, Harness.
Box score from Saturday:
Cowley (76): Gandy 3-5 4-4 12, Fulton 1-5 0-0 2, Mills 4-7 3-4 12, Da Silva 5-10 1-2 13, Diakite 3-14 7-13 14, Cherne 3-11 0-0 9, Harness 5-7 2-2 14, Loewen 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 24-62 17-25 76.
NOC (74): Ty Lazenby 9-18 6-8 25, Cade Upshaw 5-10 4-4 18, Casey Cole 3-3 1-2 7, Jesus Izquierdo 1-4 0-0 3, Zach Rayner 0-1 0-0 0, Yakhya Mbodji 4-7 2-8 10, Alhassan Barrie 4-5 0-4 8, Kole Talbott 1-3 0-0 0, Robert Joseph 0-2 0-0 0, Tre Petit 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Robinson 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 27-53 13-28 74.
Three-pointers: Cowley 11-29 (Cherne 3-9, Harness 2-3, Gandy 2-4, Da Silva 2-4, Diakite 1-4, Mills 1-2, Fulton 0-2, Wright 0-1), NOC 7-16 (Upsahw 4-5, Lazenby 1-3, Talbott 1-3, Izquierdo 1-2, Joseph 0-2, Rayner 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 42 (Diakite 9), NOC 32 (Mbodji 9). Assists: Cowley 18 (Wright, Cherne 4), NOC 16 (Upshaw 5). Turnovers: Cowley 13, NOC 14. Total fouls: Cowley 22, NOC 16. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.
Friday's game was never in doubt. With State Fair racing out to a 23-3 lead and blistering the nets with 67.7 percent (21-of-31) shooting, the Roadrunners took a commanding 55-29 halftime lead.
Despite the large halftime deficit, the Tigers continued to battle and got within 10 points of the lead before losing 93-81.
"We played hard and with a purpose the last four minutes of the first half and the entire second half," Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme said. "I was glad to see us step up and fight back."
Tiger freshman Brian Harness came off the bench to lead all scorers with 26 points. Harness finished 8-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point range, while hitting all seven of his foul shots.
Sophomore Jamon Fulton added 11 points and Soufiyane Diakite chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in 19 minutes of action. Kamaal Davis, a 6'10" freshman from Chicago, IL, had his best game of the season in the loss as he came off the bench to contribute six points and seven rebounds.
State Fair's Willie Jimerson (24 points, seven rebounds, seven assists), Ronnie Rausseau (23 points), and Asem Johnson (19 points) combined to score 66 points on 25-of-41 shooting.
State Fair is now 8-1 after suffering a 106-99 loss at Coffeyville on Saturday.
Cowley again trailed early on Saturday, this time by a score of 12-2. However, the Tigers answered with a 12-0 run to go in front of NOC-Enid 14-12.
The Jets would lead 40-37 at the end of the first half and increased its advantage to 10 points five minutes into the second half.
Trailing by 10, Cowley sophomore Terell Gandy drilled a three-pointer that started the Tigers' comeback.
Cowley would lead 75-70 with 1:30 remaining before the Jets pulled within 75-74 and had the ball with a chance at the lead in the game's final 10 seconds. However, Cowley freshman Atir Cherne stole the ball from the Jets' Cade Upshaw and passed it ahead to Diakite, who was fouled with 2.2 seconds left.
Diakite made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to put Cowley on top 76-74 and freshman Kyrece Mills stole a long pass attempt by NOC-Enid to seal the Tigers' first road win of the season.
"That was a huge gut check win for us coming off a tough game the night before," DeSalme said.
Cowley had five players score in double figures with Harness and Diakite leading the way with 14 points apiece. Freshman Pedro Da Silva added 13 points, while Mills and Gandy each finished with 12 points.
Freshman point guard Brett Wright also played well as he came off the bench to contribute eight assists in the two games.
"This is a big step for Brett getting confidence in the college game," DeSalme said.
After scoring 41 points in the Jets' 99-86 loss at Cowley on Nov. 14, Ty Lazenby finished with 25 points on Saturday. NOC-Enid is now 8-2 on the season with both losses coming to the Tigers.
Cowley, 6-3 on the season, will host the Best Western Plus Patterson Park Inn Basketball Classic on Nov. 27-28. On Friday, the Tigers will host North Arkansas College (7-1) at 7 p.m., then on Saturday, Cowley will battle No. 8-ranked Hill College (8-0) which has advanced to the Final Four at each of the last two national tournaments.
"This is a fun stretch right here," DeSalme said. "We have four big days of practice before facing two really good teams."
Box score from Friday:
State Fair (93): Willie Jimerson 9-15 5-10 24, Joshuea Bailey 2-4 0-0 5, Ronnie Rausseau 8-15 5-5 23, Clint Robinson 3-4 1-4 8, Ryan Surface 1-3 0-0 3, Asem Johnson 8-11 2-5 19, Will Jones 1-2 0-0 2, Craig McKenzie 0-0 3-4 3, Kipras Pumputis 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 34-57 18-32 93.
Cowley (81): Mason Loewen 1-2 0-0 2, Jamon Fulton 4-8 2-2 11, Kyrece Mills 1-8 5-6 7, Pedro Da Silva 3-4 0-0 6, Soufiyane Diakite 4-8 2-3 10, Brian Harness 8-14 7-7 26, Kamaal Davis 3-4 0-0 6, Jarvis Cannon 1-6 2-2 4, Atir Cherne 0-7 2-2 2, Terell Gandy 2-4 0-0 4, Brett Wright 1-3 0-0 3, Adolfo Barrios 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 28-71 20-22 81.
Three-pointers: State Fair 7-18 (Rausseau 2-7, Surface 1-3, Robinson 1-2, Bailey 1-2, Jimerson 1-2, Johnson 1-2), Cowley 5-25 (Harness 3-4, Fulton 1-2, Wright 1-2, Cherne 0-5, Mills 0-4, Cannon 0-3, Loewen 0-1, Gandy 0-1, Barrios 0-1, Da Silva 0-1, Diakite 0-1). Rebounds: State Fair 36 (Brown, Jimerson 7), Cowley 38 (Diakite, Davis 7). Assists: State Fair 18 (Jimerson 7), Cowley 13 (Wright 4). Turnovers: State Fair 20, Cowley 18. Total fouls: State Fair 26, Cowley 26. Fouled out: Mills, Diakite. Technicals: Bailey, Harness.
Box score from Saturday:
Cowley (76): Gandy 3-5 4-4 12, Fulton 1-5 0-0 2, Mills 4-7 3-4 12, Da Silva 5-10 1-2 13, Diakite 3-14 7-13 14, Cherne 3-11 0-0 9, Harness 5-7 2-2 14, Loewen 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 24-62 17-25 76.
NOC (74): Ty Lazenby 9-18 6-8 25, Cade Upshaw 5-10 4-4 18, Casey Cole 3-3 1-2 7, Jesus Izquierdo 1-4 0-0 3, Zach Rayner 0-1 0-0 0, Yakhya Mbodji 4-7 2-8 10, Alhassan Barrie 4-5 0-4 8, Kole Talbott 1-3 0-0 0, Robert Joseph 0-2 0-0 0, Tre Petit 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Robinson 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 27-53 13-28 74.
Three-pointers: Cowley 11-29 (Cherne 3-9, Harness 2-3, Gandy 2-4, Da Silva 2-4, Diakite 1-4, Mills 1-2, Fulton 0-2, Wright 0-1), NOC 7-16 (Upsahw 4-5, Lazenby 1-3, Talbott 1-3, Izquierdo 1-2, Joseph 0-2, Rayner 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 42 (Diakite 9), NOC 32 (Mbodji 9). Assists: Cowley 18 (Wright, Cherne 4), NOC 16 (Upshaw 5). Turnovers: Cowley 13, NOC 14. Total fouls: Cowley 22, NOC 16. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.