Smith’s last-second basket lifts Hutchinson to an 88-86 win at Cowley

In a battle of ranked teams, the No. 15-ranked Hutchinson Blue Dragons rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to stun the ninth-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team by a score of 88-86 Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

After trailing 46-44 at the end of the first half, Cowley grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the second half and saw its lead balloon to 70-56 with 10 minutes remaining. Hutchinson methodically chipped away at the Tigers' lead before finally going in front 87-86 on a runner in the lane by Kobe Smith with 21.7 seconds left.

Cowley sophomore Jeff Nwankwo, who scored 21 first-half points, answered with what looked to be the game-winner as he nailed his sixth three-pointer of the game to put Cowley back in front 86-85 with 6.5 seconds remaining.

However, Hutchinson quickly in-bounded the ball and got it to Smith, who raced up court and lofted a shot over the out-stretched arms of Cowley's Corey Thomas to give the Blue Dragons an 87-86 advantage with only 1.8 seconds left.

Cowley tried to throw the ball downcourt for one last shot attempt, but Hutchinson's Kamryn Thomas intercepted the pass and was fouled with 1.1 seconds left. Thomas made 1-of-2 free throws, and Arzhonte Dallas' three-quarter length shot attempt at the buzzer was off the mark as the Blue Dragons escaped with the two-point win.

"That was a heck of a game," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "Lots of big plays were made on both sides. Credit to Hutch as a staff for making a few adjustments against us and to Kobe Smith for making two monster plays down the stretch."

Jackson played college basketball for Hutchinson head coach Tommy DeSalme and spent eight years as an assistant to DeSalme, who is the all-time winningest head coach in the history of Tiger basketball. This was the 22^nd meeting between Jackson and DeSalme, with Coach Jackson holding a 14-8 edge in the head-to-head matchups. This marked the third straight year the teams split the regular season series.

Cowley falls to 21-4 overall and into third place in the Jayhawk Conference, while Hutchinson (21-3) moves into second place in the conference with a record of 16-2.

"We shot ourselves in the foot when we stopped being aggressive and started settling for quick three-pointers when we got up 14," Jackson said. "And we missed untimely one-on-one opportunities. I also don't think we played our best defensive game, but Hutch had a lot to do with it."

Nwankwo led all scorers with a career-high 33 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Dallas added 16 points, and Corey Thomas finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Valentino Simon led Hutchinson with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Smith added 20 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Cowley will attempt to remain near the top of the conference when they play at Colby Community College on Sunday at 3 p.m. Colby is 9-15 overall and 5-13 in the conference.

"We have a tough game coming up at Colby," Jackson said. "They are playing hard, they are running great offense, and they have been playing well at home. We have to bounce back and get back to guarding if we want any chance of winning on Sunday."

Hutchinson (88): John Paul-Ricks 3-9 2-3 8, Russel Branch 1-5 0-0 2, Valentino Simon 9-16 2-2 20, Kamryn Thomas 5-8 3-4 15, Edwin Daniel 1-4 0-0 2, Dallas Whitney 3-8 2-2 9, Landon Wagler 2-3 0-0 6, Kobe Smith 8-11 3-5 20, Kernan Bundy 2-5 1-3 6. Totals: 34-69 12-19 88.

Cowley (86): Avante Nichols 2-8 1-2 5, Jeff Nwankwo 12-21 3-5 33, Arzhonte Dallas 6-11 2-2 16, Damare Smith 2-11 2-2 6, Corey Thomas 4-8 5-6 14, Shamarrie Hugie 1-5 0-0 2, Ajai Flagg 1-1 0-0 2, Marcus Zeigler 4-10 0-0 8, Leslie Owens 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 32-76 13-17 86.

Three-pointers: Hutchinson 8-20 (Thomas 3-3, Wagler 2-3, Smith 1-2, Bundy 1-2, Whitney 1-4, Ricks 0-2, Simon 0-2, Daniel 0-1, Branch 0-1), Cowley 9-22 (Nwankwo 6-9, Dallas 2-4, Thomas 1-1, Smith 0-5. Nichols 0-1, Hugie 0-1, Zeigler 0-1). Rebounds: Hutchinson 43 (Simon 14), Cowley 32 (Thomas 10). Assists: Hutchinson 10 (Ricks 4), Cowley 14 (Smith 4). Turnovers: Hutchinson 10, Cowley 7. Total fouls: Hutchinson 18, Cowley 20. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Hutchinson two.