After winning seven of their last games by double digits, the Tigers (15-1 overall, 4-0 Jayhawk East) found themselves in a dogfight last night.

Johnson County matched, if not out-matched, the intensity and speed of Cowley at times last night.

After holding a slim 34-31 halftime lead, the Cavaliers stepped up their efforts on the defensive end and translated that into offense.

Johnson County used a 9-3 run to take its largest lead, 45-38, on a Totta basket, in which McKinney was called for goaltending. Moments before, Kyle Speed drained a three-pointer shortly after one of Cowley's 16 turnovers.

"You don't take them lightly," Eck said of Johnson County. "They have good shooters. They got some more quickness, too; and they're well-coached."

Speed was one of four Cavaliers in double figures. He finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Nafis Ricks scored a team-high 15 points, while David Yadrich chipped in 13. Totta added nine points.

McKinney made amends for his goaltending call, blocking the shot of Jonathan Jackson to spark an 18-3 Cowley run. Chris Rhymes recorded back-to-back buckets before Preston Brown finished off the spurt with a free-throw for a 56-48 lead with 8:08 left.

Rhymes continued his torrid shooting, of late, last night. He finished with a game-high 28 points. It was Rhymes' third-straight game with at least 20 points. Eric McKinney added 15 points and two blocks.

Eck praised Rhymes' efforts last night, but would like to see more balanced scoring from his team.

"We've got to get some more balanced scoring," Eck said. "I'm glad Chris got 28. That's good, but we've got to get more balanced scoring."

Cowley appeared to be on its way to the win, as it lead by eight with just over two minutes left. But the Cavaliers wouldn't go away without a fight.

Totta gave Johnson County a one-point lead with a layup. Brown nodded the contest at 69 with a free throw, as the game went into overtime following McDonald's blocked shot.

In the extra session, McDonald and Rhymes opened the scoring for a quick 73-69 lead for Cowley. Fred Patton made a layup to cut Cowley's lead to one with 40.2 seconds left. Rhymes finished off his strong night with a free throw for a two-point Tigers' lead, and McDonald did the rest.

Cowley could've avoided the extra session, but poor free-throw shooting (14 of 28) caught up to them.

"You shoot 14 of 28 (at the free-throw line), that shows we're not focused," Eck said. "I told the people at Cowley that my team is going to compete every night. We didn't compete against (Northern Oklahoma) the last 15 minutes of the game...we lost. And we didn't compete tonight until the very end. We have to do a better job of that. I'm proud of the guys that we were able to pull it through."

Neither team led by more than five points in a first half that featured nine lead changes. McKinney had the hot hand early, scoring Cowley's first six points. He scored all 10 of his first-half points in the first 8:58, capped off by a layup in which he used a ball fake to drive the baseline.

McDonald converted a thunderous left-handed dunk off an alley-oop by Rhymes to the end of the half.

Box score:

Johnson County: Ricks 5-13 5-7 15; Speed 5-11 1-2 13; Yadrich 5-6 0-0 13; Jackson 4-9 2-2 10; Totta 4-10 0-1 9; Patton 4-10 0-0 8; Dobson 2-8 0-0 4; French 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 30-69 9-14 75.

Cowley: Rhymes 10-17 8-10 28; McKinney 6-10 2-2 15; Hammerschmidt 3-5 2-5 8; Crowder III 3-5 2-5 8; McDonald 4-9 0-3 8; Brown 1-8 2-8 4; Cook 1-7 0-0 2; Butler 1-1 0-0 2; Miller 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-62 14-28 77.

Halftime -- Johnson County 34, Cowley 31. Three's -- Johnson County 6-15 (Yadrich 3, Speed 2, Totta); Cowley 3-10 (Hammerschmidt 2, McKinney). Rebounds -- Johnson County 31 (Patton 7); Cowley 37 (Crowder 10). Assists -- Johnson County: 14 (Ricks 6); Cowley: 13 (Cook 4).

Above: Cowley College's Eric McKinney (40) sets up for a jump shot Wednesday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium. McKinney scored 15 points in the 12th-ranked Tigers' 77-75 win over Johnson County.