Tigers shoot 61 percent in big, 95-86 road win at Cloud County

The victory, the second in a row for the Tigers, improves Cowley's record to 13-7 overall and 8-6 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"This win was a tribute to us trusting each other a bit more offensively, but it also helps that guys stepped up," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

The Tigers trailed by as many as seven points (31-24) before rallying to tie Cloud County at 42-42 at the end of the first half.

Cowley scored the first five points of the second half and never trailed over the final 20 minutes.

Leading 55-51 seven minutes into the second half, the Tigers used a 16-4 run to lead 71-55 and never looked back in the nine-point win.

Roman Miller (21 points) and Leslie Owens Jr. (19 points) combined for 40 points to lead the Tigers.

"Roman had a little chip on his shoulder, scoring 17 points in the second half," Jackson said. "And, when Leslie plays well, we usually play well."

Fellow Tigers Chase Robinson and LJ Britt came off the bench to combine for 27 points on 13-of-14 shooting from the floor.

"Those guys did not take a bad shot," Jackson said. "We need Chase to build off this game, and when LJ is getting downhill and using his frame, he is super effective around the rim."

On a night when leading scorer Marcus Smith was held to six points, the freshman point guard made his presence felt in other ways by dishing out 10 assists.

Cloud's DJ Holloway led all scorers with 24 points and helped the T-Birds out-rebound Cowley 35-31.

"We need to start guarding and rebounding better, or it will catch up to us. We can't keep trying to outscore opponents," Jackson said.

The T-Birds fall to 12-9 overall and 7-8 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Cowley will attempt to make it three wins in a row when they host Colby on Saturday at 3 p.m. Cowley defeated Colby 78-66 on November 29. The Trojans are 5-16 overall and 3-12 in the conference. Colby head coach Jerrod Stanford played for Coach Jackson when he was a JV coach at Sterling College.

"We will need to be ready for Colby's best," Jackson said. "There is always that personal aspect to this game, going against somebody you care about, so you have to remove that and keep the focus on going 1-0 at home on Saturday."

Box score:

Cowley (95): Leslie Owens Jr. 6-10 6-6 19, Jordan Smith 3-4 0-0 6, Marcus Smith 3-10 0-0 6, Kyden Thompson 3-6 2-4 8, Roman Miller 9-15 0-0 21, LJ Britt 5-5 0-1 10, Chase Robinson 8-9 1-1 17, Xavier Vickerstaff 2-4 0-0 5, Khai Brown 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 40-65 9-12 95.

Cloud (86): Manasseh Stackhouse 0-2 2-2 2, Syncere Burnette 4-8 0-0 9, DJ Holloway 8-15 7-9 24, Kuel Akot 5-10 0-0 13, Samuel Akot 0-1 0-0 0, Elidjah Savane 0-2 0-0 0, D'ontez Walker 2-10 4-5 8, Will Otott 0-2 0-0 0, Jack Skocny 0-0 0-0 0, Kaidan Chatham 7-9 1-2 15, Kam Williams 4-7 2-2 11, K'mari Holt 1-2 2-3 4. Totals: 31-68 18-23 86.

Three-pointers: Cowley 6-16 (Miller 3-7, Vickerstaff 1-3, Brown 1-2, Owens 1-1, Smith 0-2, Thompson 0-1), Cloud 6-14 (K. Akot 3-3, Holloway 1-3, Burnette 1-2, Williams 1-2, Stackhouse 0-1, Walker 0-1, Otott 0-1, Holt 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 31 (Robinson 9), Cloud 35 (Walker 7). Assists: Cowley 26 (Smith 10), Cloud 11 (Burnette, Walker 3). Turnovers: Cowley 15, Cloud 14. Total fouls: Cowley 17, Cloud 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Owens, Holt.