Big second half propels Tigers to 79-64 win over 19th-ranked Mavericks

After losing a heartbreaker in overtime last week at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, the Cowley College men's basketball team enacted some revenge with a 79-64 victory over the Mavericks Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The victory improves Cowley's record to 5-1 on the season, while the Mavericks fall to 4-3.

"I'm proud of the guys for finding a way of bouncing back and getting a split against NOC-Tonkawa," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "They have a good team and they run a lot of ball screen actions that are tough to guard."

The teams traded baskets the majority of the first half before NOC-Tonkawa went into halftime with a 42-38 lead. Javontae Campbell, who entered the game averaging 29.3 points per game, scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half and the Mavericks shot 61.3 percent from the floor.

Freshman Leslie Owens came off the bench to score all 14 of his points in the first-half and keep the Tigers within striking distance.

Cowley would regain the lead early in the second half and led 63-61 with just over seven minutes left to play. The Tigers would hold the Mavericks to just three points the rest of the way as they finished the game on a 16-3 run.

After a red-hot first half, the Mavericks were held to just 34 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes of play.

"We had to make a few adjustments defensively at halftime because what we were doing in the first half wasn't working," Jackson said. "Credit to the guys for making those changes and ramping up things on that end of the floor."

The Tigers shot 54.4 percent form the floor and had five players score in double figures. Sophomore Jeff Nwankwo scored 16 points to go along with five assists, while freshman Marcus Zeigler came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds.

"Our freshman really stepped up for us when we needed them to," Jackson said. "I wanted to make sure to acknowledge that because they have been working hard in practice."

Arzhonte Dallas added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Corey Thomas scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.

Cowley will remain home to open conference play against Northwest Kansas Tech on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

"There is zero time to enjoy this win," Jackson said. "We start conference play on Saturday vs Northwest Tech. They have a good group of returners. They also have a very athletic frontline. They have guys on the wing that can score. We need to really prepare the next two days for them. Real games are here."

Box score:

NOC (64): Javontae Campbell 9-16 1-2 22, James Brown 3-11 4-4 11, Anthony Ignowski 5-10 3-4 13, Famious French 2-7 0-0 5, Jordan Gorecki 6-6 1-2 13, Tyson Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Matet Dhieu 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-52 9-12 64.

Cowley (79): Avante Nichols 1-1 1-2 3, Jeff Nwankwo 6-13 2-2 16, Arzhonte Dallas 4-10 0-0 10, Damare Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Corey Thomas 4-5 4-6 12, Marcus Zeigler 6-10 3-5 16, Devin Brown 4-7 0-0 8, Leslie Owens 6-9 2-2 14, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 31-57 12-17 79.

Three-pointers: NOC 5-14 (Campbell 3-4, French 1-4, Brown 1-2, Ignowski 0-3, Brown 0-1), Cowley 5-14 Nwankwo 2-5, Dallas 2-5, Zeigler 1-2, Smith 0-2). Rebounds: NOC 19 (Gorecki 5), Cowley 27 (Dallas 7). Assists: NOC 8 (Brown 4), Cowley 18 (Nwankwo, Thomas 5). Turnovers: NOC 8, Cowley 8. Total fouls: NOC 15, Cowley 11. Fouled out: Gorecki. Technicals: none.