Cowley Press

The men’s basketball team saw their season end last Saturday. The Tigers fell to Seward County 79-75 in the final minutes of the game during the second round of the Region VI Tournament held at Charles Koch Arena at Wichita State University.

The game started off fast for the Tigers with Freshmen Tyrus McGee and Canon Fields combining for half of the Tiger’s 40 first half points. Most of McGee’s points were coming from behind the arc as he finished the first half 3-5 from three-point-range. 

Freshman Jordan Lankster also had seven points on 3-4 shooting in the first half.  The swift offensive attack led to the games largest lead with Cowley up 31-21. Heading into halftime the Saints had shortened the Tigers lead to six points 40-34. 

Coming out of the locker rooms the Saints changed the game. Seward buckled down defensively with 16 defensive rebounds in the second half. The Saints also caused some costly turnovers.

The teams played almost even for the entire second half after a spurt of points from Seward. Heading into the final two minutes, Cowley was clinging to a one point lead. The Saints broke the lead and hit some important shots on their last few possessions. 

Trailing 77-72 with just under 14 seconds left, Fields drained a three to pull the team with two. Following a time out, McGee stole the ball, but missed a shot inside on a controversial no call. Cowley was then forced to foul Seward’s Marky Nolen, who delivered two fatal punches to the Tigers’ season in the form of his two made free throws. The final score was Cowley 75 and Seward County 79.

On the night the Tigers were led by Fields with 23 points on 8-13 shooting and 3-5 from beyond the arc. McGee followed with 18 points and led the Tigers in rebounds with nine. In their final games playing for Cowley, Sophomores Caprest Rhone and Lance Russell finished with five and four points, respectively. 

Fields led the team in assists with five and steals with four. Fields and McGee also  led the team in another statistical measure; minutes played. Canon and Fields played an astonishing 34:24 and 35:13.

The Tigers finished the season with a 21-11 record in Coach Tommy DeSalme’s first season at the helm. The team will lose Russell and Rhone but, they have a very good returning turnout with 12 returning players. 

Of those include McGee, who was Jayhawk East Freshman of the Year. Also Fields who really caught fire in the second half of the season. With some better experienced players going into their second year, Cowley will be a potential contender in the Region VI Conference.