Tigers ride hot-shooting night to 95-65 season-opening win

Things started well from the opening tip for the Tigers as they raced out to a 17-3 lead. However, Labette settled down and pulled within 23-18 on a three-point play by Joshua Thorton with 8:45 left in the first half.

After building its lead back to nine at 38-29, sophomore Kyden Thompson made a steal and raced down court to throw down a dunk just before halftime as Cowley went into the break with a 40-29 advantage.

Cowley forced Labette into 14 first-half turnovers and had eight players score in the game's first 20 minutes.

The Tigers stormed out of the halftime intermission and used a 12-3 run to increase their lead to 20 (52-32).

The second half turned into a dunk fest for Cowley, as the Tigers went on to score 37 points off 29 Labette turnovers. Cowley shot 60 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting at a 54 percent clip.

"At halftime, I asked them to play up to their capabilities defensively," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "We made some adjustments because our game is based on our pressure creating points."

Cowley freshman Roman Miller from Oklahoma City, OK, led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting.

"Roman is an offense-first type of player and can really fill it up," Jackson said.

Other Tigers in double figures were CJ Majors (13), Marcus Smith (12), Xavier Vickerstaff (11), and Chase Robinson (10).

"A staple of our program has been sharing the basketball and playing team ball," Jackson said.

Josiah Harris came off the bench to lead Labette with 14 points. The Cardinals are now 1-2 on the season.

The Tigers will host the Cowley Classic on Friday and Saturday. Cowley will face former Tiger assistant coach Roybell Baez and his Western Nebraska squad on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Cowley will also face Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Box score:

Labette (65): Tre Paige 3-8 0-0 7, Zavier Phillips 1-2 0-0 3, Donnie Watts 1-4 1-2 3, Joshua Thorton 5-12 2-3 12, Mukadi Mukoma 2-4 0-0 6, Nikita Kolorntayev 0-0 0-0 0, Xavier Tiger-Harjo 0-1 2-2 2, Christian Smith 2-5 0-0 6, Vontay Robinson 2-4 0-0 4, Josiah Harris 6-11 0-0 14, Denys Kaminsky 1-3 6-6 8, Rilyn Robins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-55 10-13 65.

Cowley (95): Marcus Smith 5-9 0-0 12, Leslie Owens Jr. 2-5 2-4 6, Chase Robinson 5-9 0-0 10, Xavier Vickerstaff 4-10 0-0 11, CJ Majors 5-9 2-4 13, LJ Britt 1-1 0-0 2, Kyden Thompson 4-5 0-0 8, Jaxson Jones 2-3 0-0 5, Aven Mboule 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Roman Miller 9-16 5-5 24, Khai Brown 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 39-72 9-13 95.

Three-pointers: Labette 9-21 (Harris 2-5, Smith 2-4, Mukoma 2-3, Paige 1-4, Kaminsky 1-3, Phillips 1-1, Robinson 0-1, Cowley 8-26 (Vickerstaff 3-9, Smith 2-3, Miller 1-6, Majors 1-2, Jones 1-1, Brown 0-2, Mboule 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Owens Jr. 0-1). Rebounds: Labette 30 (Mukoma 5), Cowley 31 (Owens Jr. 5). Assists: Labette 17 (Watts 6), Cowley 19 (Smith, Owens Jr. 3). Turnovers: Labette 29, Cowley 12. Total fouls: Labette 10, Cowley 11. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.