Tigers ride big second half to 78-52 road win

Shooting 73.9 percent in the second half of its game at Northwest Kansas Tech on Wednesday, the Cowley College men's basketball team turned a two-point halftime lead (31-29) into a 78-52 victory.

Cowley had not won a road game since defeating Allen Community College back on November 5.

"You could see the look in the guys' eyes, they wanted a road win," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

Freshman Xavier Valley scored 12 of his season-high 23 points in the opening half as Cowley held onto a slim, two-point lead. Leading 42-36 early in the second half, Cowley would use a 20-5 run to lead 62-41 following a three-pointer by Raishaun Brown with 7:49 left to play. The Tigers' lead would balloon to 29 points as they cruised to the 26-point road win.

The Tigers out-shot the Mavericks 56 percent to 37 percent and made 10-of-21 three-point attempts as they improved their record to 11-10 overall and 7-8 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"We did a good job of getting inside the middle of their zone and forced them to have to play man-to-man defense," Jackson said. "Trevion (Alexander), in his first conference start, did a good job in the high post of finding the open person."

Mekhi Cameron went 5-of-6 from three-point range and finished with 17 points, while Valley went 3-of-6 from long range.

"Xavier has these kind of games in his skills set and is more than capable of doing this on a more consistent basis," Jackson said.

Sophomore Clarence King, who leads the Tigers in scoring, rebounding, and assists added 14 points and six rebounds.

Ethan Yancy led the Mavericks with 17 points, but made only 5-of-18 shots from the floor as Northwest Kansas Tech fell to 6-14 overall and 3-11 in the conference.

The Tigers will now prepare to host No. 10-ranked Hutchinson Community College (18-3) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Dragons are coached by former Cowley coaches Tommy DeSalme and Eric Nitsche. Former Tiger basketball player, Anthony White, is also on staff.

Hutchinson pulled out a 76-75 win over Cowley when the teams met December 1 in Hutchinson.

"I value Coach DeSalme and Coach Eric's friendship, but we want to win on Saturday," Jackson said. "We will enjoy Coach DeSalme's return and will show him the proper respect, but we owe them one and need to protect our home court."

Box score:

Cowley (78): Raishaun Brown 1-4 3-4 6, Mekhi Cameron 6-7 0-0 17, Xavier Valley 9-13 2-2 23, Trevion Alexander 3-6 0-0 6, Kennedy Willis 3-5 0-0 6, Xavier Washington 0-4 1-2 1, Clarence King 5-8 3-4 14, Emmanuel Austin 0-0 2-2 2, Christian Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Spenkuch 1-1 1-4 3, KJ Spiller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-50 12-18 78.

NW Kansas Tech (52): Hantz Louis-Jeune 3-5 3-3 10, Myles Arnold 2-5 0-0 5, Lino Manhom 2-3 4-7 8, Tate Bessire 1-2 0-1 2, Timothy Moore 0-0 0-2 0, Ethan Yancy 5-18 3-4 17, Clayton Bradley 2-6 2-3 6, Zaire Hayes 0-3 0-0 0, Michael Washington 0-2 0-0 0, Youssouf Timera 2-2 0-2 4. Totals: 17-46 10-19 52.

Three-pointers: Cowley 10-21 (Cameron 5-6, Valley 3-6, Brown 1-3, King 1-3, Williams 0-2, Washington 0-1), NW Kansas Tech 8-25 (Yancy 4-11, Bradley 2-3, Arnold 1-4, Louis-Jeune 1-3, Hayes 0-2, Washington 0-1, Bessire 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 27 (King 6), NW Kansas Tech 26 (three players with 4). Assists: Cowley 4 (Brown, Alexander 2), NW Kansas Tech 3 (three players with 1). Turnovers: Cowley 8, NW Kansas Tech 17. Total fouls: Cowley 18, NW Kansas Tech 14. Fouled out: Manhom. Technicals: none.