Web posted
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Cowley men tie school record for winsr
By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net
It took only nine minutes for the Cowley College men's basketball team to pass the first test in its quest for a Region VI title.
The No. 9 Tigers more than lived up to the billing last night as the top seed in the Region VI Tournament. They turned defense into offense and pressed the issue with their transition game to gain an early double-digit lead before cruising to an impressive 78-44 win over Butler County in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium.
Cowley will face Barton County, who defeated Allen County 89-84 in overtime last night, in the second round Sunday at 1 p.m. at Koch Arena in Wichita. Butler County finished the season 9-21.
While the Tigers' win was impressive, coach Steve Eck didn't think of it as a statement to the remaining field in the tournament.
"There is no statement there," he said. "When you got to Wichita, there are eight teams that can win it."
Cowley hopes that history holds true after it tied the school record for wins last night, shared by the 1952-53 team that finished 29-5 and was the national tournament runner-up.
The current Tigers wrote the first chapter on that quest last night.
Holding an early 9-4 lead, the Tigers converted a few steals to turn the game into a double-digit lead in what seemed like a blur.
All season, the Tigers have been capable of scoring in bunches. They did it against last night.
With 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Marcus Butler recorded a steal and passed the ball to Chris Rhymes for an easy layup. On the ensuing possession, Rhymes recorded a steal and converted a two-handed dunk for a 16-4 lead.
"I thought that we did a good job of getting into the passing lanes and taking away their offense," Eck said.
Rhymes finished a game-high 22 points on 11-of-16 shooting.
Before you know it, Zach Miller hit a reverse layup on a nice feed by Montrell McDonald to give Cowley a 31-9 lead with 5:22 remaining before intermission.
McDonald, who is being pursued by numerous NCAA Division I schools, left a lasting impression in his final career game at W.S. Scott Auditorium -- except in one category: turnovers (5).
Other than that, he contributed in nearly every aspect of the game, finishing with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. He also blocked four shots.
Butler finally reached double digits when Maurice Colter hit a layup with 4:25 remaining in the first half. But the Tigers were already in control with a 20-point lead.
Eck was concerned about Butler's ability to shoot the ball coming in. Butler entered Wednesday's game shooting 44 percent from the field. While the Grizzlies were presented with several open looks, especially on the perimeter, they finished shooting only 27 percent.
"Holding Butler to 27 percent is a tribute to our guys," Eck said.
Kevin Sechrist (12 points) was the only Grizzly to finish in double figures.
Things got a little hairy at the end of the first half, in which Butler used an 8-0 run to cut Cowley's lead to 36-20 at halftime. But Eck apparently sent a message to his team at halftime -- and they responded.
Cowley (29-2) hit three jumpers as part of an 8-0 run to start the second half to regain a strangle hold on the game. Rhymes hit a jumper for a 44-20 Cowley lead.
"I thought that was very important," Eck said. "I thought that we had to come out there and try to do something. We stepped up and play good 'D'."
After shooting a blistering 53.3 percent in the first half, the Tigers went 19-of-31 (61.3) percent in the second half.
Eric McKinney was on the receiving end of a nifty pass and recorded a baseline dunk for a 30-point lead. McDonald went up for a two-hand dunk early in the first half, while being fouled. Rhymes recorded back-to-back dunks just a couple of minutes later.
Box score:
Butler -- Sechrist 5-12 1-1 12; Stutz 3-9 3-5 9; Richardson 3-12 0-0 7; Colter 2-10 0-1 4; White 1-5 1-4 3; Arnold 1-7 0-0 3; Batiste 1-4 0-0 3; Ngniman 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 17-63 6-13 44.
Cowley -- Rhymes 11-16 0-1 22; McDonald 7-10 4-5 19; Crowder III 6-7 12; McKinney 4-7 0-0 8; Brown 3-5 1-2 7; Cook 2-6 1-1 5; Miller 2-4 0-0 4; Butler 0-5 1-2 1. Totals 35-61 7-11 78.
Halftime -- Cowley 36, Butler 20. Three's -- Butler 4- 31 (Batiste, Arnold, Richardson, Sechrist); Cowley 1-7 (McDonald). Rebounds -- Butler 29 (Stutz 11); Cowley 40 (McDonald 11). Assists -- Butler: 8 (Colter 5); Cowley: 21 (McDonald 7). Technicals: none.
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