From RAMA PEROO/Cowley College
Returning to action for the first time in 25 days, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team shook off the rust of the long break to defeat Colby Community College 90-70 Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium in Ark City.
The victory improves Cowley’s record to 13-1 overall and 8-0 in the Jayhawk Conference. Colby is now 5-8 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
On Wednesday, Colby raced out to an 11-2 lead and stayed in front until a three-pointer by Cowley sophomore Damare Smith gave the Tigers a 32-29 lead with 6:20 left in the first half.
Cowley would close the half on a 16-3 run to lead 48-37.
“After the slow start to the game, we started being more aggressive and playing more downhill,” Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.
The Tigers continued to pour it on as they scored the first seven points of the second half to lead 55-37. Leading 61-49, Cowley scored the next 13 points and led 74-49 following three free throws by sophomore Jeff Nwankwo with 10:35 left to play.
Cowley was never threatened the rest of the way in the 20-point home win. The Tigers, winners of 11 games in a row, improve their record to 7-0 at home.
Smith and Nwankwo led Cowley with 19 points apiece, while sophomore post-player Corey Thomas added a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
“These guys truly care for each other,” Jackson said. “We wanted to play as fast as we could and wear Colby out.”
Freshman Leslie Owens also played well, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Marko Maekinusic led Colby with 18 points but scored just two points after halftime.
The Tigers will attempt to remain unbeaten in the Jayhawk Conference when they play at Independence on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Pirates have lost 12 games in a row after opening the season with a 70-66 win at Labette.
“We remember what happened to us (by losing) at Indy last year, so we need to be ready to play an entire 40 minutes and continue getting better,” Jackson said.
The box score from Wednesday’s game can be found here.
Lady Tigers begin the new year with a 62-47 win over Colby
Playing its first game since December 9, the Cowley College women’s basketball team forced Colby Community College into 25 turnovers in a 62-47 home win Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Lady Tigers and was Cowley’s first win since November 18. Cowley is now 8-6 overall and 2-6 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Colby falls to 4-8 overall and 0-7 in the conference.
Wednesday’s contest pitted Cowley head coach Todd Clark against his former mentor Darin Spence, who coached at Cowley from 1998-2003 and is in the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame. Clark served as Spence’s assistant from 1997-2000 as the pair guided the Lady Tigers to three straight conference championships and a record of 91-9.
Spence was finding the same success hard to come by in year one in charge at Colby as his Trojans committed 10 first-quarter turnovers and trailed 18-6 after one-quarter of play.
The Trojans would commit 19 turnovers in the opening half yet trailed only 28-24 thanks to Cowley shooting only 32.4 percent from the floor.
Sophomore post player Anna Przsyzlak scored 10 of her 16 points in the opening half to lead the Lady Tigers.
Cowley’s lead would grow to 49-37 after three quarters of play.
Holding onto a 56-47 lead, Cowley did not allow Colby to score over the final four minutes as they went onto the 15-point win.
Freshman Jaiden Smith led Cowley with 17 points, while freshmen Hattie Pyle and Suzanna Komor added 12 points and seven rebounds and eight points and seven boards, respectively.
Sofia Lopez led Colby with 16 points but committed nine turnovers.
The Lady Tigers will attempt to make it two victories in a row when they play at Independence on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Lady Pirates are 8-5 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
