Tiger Magic rears its head again! Cowley rallies from 25 down to shock the top-seed

As the great Al Michaels once said "Do you believe in Miracles"? Trailing by 25 points in the second half of its Elite Eight game against top-seeded and unbeaten Mineral Area Community College, the eighth-seeded Cowley College men's basketball team rallied for an unbelievable 105-101 win at the NJCAA Division I National Championships played Thursday afternoon at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson, KS.

With the win, Cowley advances to the Final Four of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament where they will face the winner of the game between fifth-seed South Plains College and 13-seed Ranger College. The next game will be played Friday at 5 p.m.

Mineral Area finishes a stellar season with a record of 24-1.

Down 78-60 with 12 minutes left, Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme was overheard telling a player of his not to worry, "we are going to win this game".

"We have said that for two years and it has happened a few times," DeSalme said. "We were not ourselves that first half and hats off to Mineral Area for that. I told the guys at halftime I don't care if they beat us, but they aren't going to beat us with us looking like this. We needed to boost our energy and got much more aggressive in the full court of denying the entry pass in. We have a belief that we are never out of a game because we can score in a hurry."

From that point on, Cowley out-scored Mineral Area 45-23.

The Tigers found themselves behind early as a three-point play by the Cardinals' Kevin Stone made the score 11-5 just over three minutes into the game. Mineral Area's lead would grow to 33-24 following a dunk by Stone with 9:45 remaining in the first half.

Cowley would close within 40-38 after a three-pointer by sophomore Cevin Clark with 5:20 left before halftime. However, Mineral Area would close the half on a 21-5 run to lead 61-43. The Cardinals shot 65.7 percent from the floor in the opening half and were led by Stone's 22 first-half points.

Dalen Ridgnal had 14 points and nine rebounds in the first half for the Tigers, but Cowley shot only 41 percent and turned the ball over 14 times in the game's first 20 minutes.

Stone opened the second half with a three-point play to increase the Cardinals' lead to 21 points and Mineral area would go on to lead by as many as 25 points (70-45) after a basket by Malevy Leons.

The Tigers began to chip away at the deficit and pulled within 72-54 following three straight treys by sophomore Moun'tae Edmundson. Another three-pointer by Edmundson made the score 86-76 with 8:36 left to play.

A three-pointer, this time by Ridgnal, pulled the Tigers within 95-88 with 5:30 showing on the clock.

The three-ball remained huge for the Tigers as a three-pointer by Mike'l Henderson put Cowley on top 99-97 with 1:57 left. Ridgnal would go on to make 3-of-4 free-throw attempts on Cowley's next two possessions and a pair of free throws by the Cardinals' J.P. Robinson made the score 102-99 in favor of the Tigers with 35.5 seconds left.

With the Tigers' clinging to a 103-101 lead, Edmundson went to the free-throw line where he made both foul shots with 13.4 seconds remaining and the celebration began as Cowley pulled out the improbable victory.

Cowley forced Mineral Area into 18 second half turnovers and 27 turnovers on the game.

Ridgnal led the Tigers with 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Edmundson had 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range. Henderson added 22 points, while Clark chipped in with 15 points and five steals. The nations presumed leader in charges taken said this team feeds off their defense.

"I am going to give up my body every single time, especially in big time moments like these," Clark said. "We never put our heads down and know it's not over until the fat lady sings as I like to say."

Stone led the Cardinals with 27 points in the loss.

The Tigers (23-4), winners of 14 games in a row and 22 of its past 23 contests, will look to advance to its first national championship appearance since the 1952-53 season.

"These guys are fun to watch and are winners," DeSalme said. "The crowd was incredible. We are going to enjoy the moment. We wont worry about anybody else as long as we bring our game. To be in a Final Four is pretty cool."

Box score:

Cowley (105): Mike'l Henderson 5-11 9-10 22, Moun'tae Edmundson 7-13 3-4 23, Shemarri Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Cevin Clark 5-14 0-0 15, Dalen Ridgnal 8-20 7-8 26, Kobe Campbell 0-1 0-0 0, Clarence King 4-5 2-2 10, Raishaun Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Tarese Morse 0-0 0-0 0, Jacquez Yow 1-4 4-7 6, Josiah Harris 1-3 1-2 3. Totals: 31-73 26-33 105.

Mineral Area (101): Jamir Price 6-8 0-3 12, Terrion Murdix 1-2 0-0 2, Keonte Jones 4-6 1-2 9, Kevin Stone 9-14 7=9 27, Malevy Leons 7-10 4-5 19, Manu Musemena 2-3 1-3 5, J.P. Robinson 4-10 4-4 13, Terry Ford 4-8 3-4 12. Lamontay Daughtery 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 38-63 20-31 101.

Three-pointers: Cowley 17-40 (Edmundson 6-12, Clark 5-11, Ridgnal 3-8, Henderson 3-7, Yow 0-2), Mineral Area 5-15 (Stone 2-5, Ford 1-3, Leons 1-3, Robinson 1-2, Price 0-1, Musemena 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 34 (Ridgnal 13), Mineral Area 41 (Leons 9). Assists: Cowley 20 (Henderson 7), Mineral Area 29 (Murdix 7). Turnovers: Cowley 22, Mineral Area 27. Total fouls: Cowley 24, Mineral Area 27. Fouled out: Jones, Ford. Technicals: none.