Tigers continue rolling with 122-83 home win

The No. 15-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team picked up its eighth straight win with a 122-83 victory over Allen Community College Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. The Tigers had 14 players score five or more points in the win.

"All of our guys will have opportunities to get into big games, so it is good for us to keep them ready," Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme said.

Leading 47-36, Cowley closed the first half on a 14-3 run to lead 61-39. The Tigers had 12 players score in the opening half.

"We were a little rusty early on after having a week off from competition," DeSalme said. "I thought we played much better the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second."

Cowley's lead grew to 30 points (74-44) less than three minutes into the second half and the Tigers would lead by as many as 43 points in the victory.

"This was the second game in a row where our guys did not worry about the score and did a good job of putting the game away," DeSalme said.

Freshman Raishaun Brown came off the bench to lead five Tigers in double figures with 19 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range.

"Raishaun has really taken some huge steps and has gotten better defensively," DeSalme said.

Sophomores Mike'l Henderson and Cevin Clark combined to go 8-of-14 from three-point range and finished with 18 and 13 points, respectively.

Fellow sophomore Dalen Ridgnal added nine points, 13 rebounds and a team-high four assists.

"They tried to take Dalen away from scoring, but I thought he did a good job of finding the open man," DeSalme said.

Amadou Traore led Allen with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Allen, losers of eight games in a row, are now 3-10 overall and 2-9 in the conference.

With the game in hand, Cowley was able to play everyone on the roster. Freshman Jayden McCray made the most of his seven minutes of action by draining a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half and then throwing down a monster dunk late in the game. McCray finished with season-highs of seven points and five rebounds.

"You never know when your opportunity will come," DeSalme said. "Jayden has done a good job of playing hard in practice and took advantage of his opportunity in the game."

Cowley is now 9-3 overall and 9-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers will now prepare for a huge showdown Saturday at 7 p.m. at No. 2-ranked Coffeyville. The Red Ravens (12-0) are atop the Jayhawk East standings with a record of 10-0.

"This is a chance for us to see where we stack up at," DeSalme said. "This is a great opportunity for us. We need to get the pace of the game where we want it at."

Box score:

Allen (83): Shaikim Jenks 2-4 1-2 5, Cedric Rollerson 4-9 4-5 14, Freddie Word 6-11 2-2 14, Cory Reynolds 0-6 0-0 0, Amadou Traore 6-9 4-6 16, Ahmed Mahgoub 2-6 3-4 7, Ata Sava Kurtulus 1-2 1-2 3, Nick Whittick 3-7 3-4 9, Ed Wright 3-9 1-2 9, Tyren Shelley 2-7 1-2 6, Trevian Sylvester 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-70 20-29 83.

Cowley (122): Moun'tae Edmundson 3-9 2-2 10, Shemarri Allen 5-7 0-0 10, Cevin Clark 4-8 1-3 13, Dalen Ridgnal 3-12 2-2 9, Biar Garang 1-3 0-0 2, Kobe Campbell 2-11 1-2 5, Mike'l Henderson 5-11 4-5 18, Clarence King 2-8 3-4 8, Raishaun Brown 6-8 3-5 19, Cameron Robins 0-1 0-0 0, Titas Mikalopas 0-1 0-0 0, Jayden McCray 2-3 2-4 7, Tarese Morse 3-6 1-1 7, Jacquez Yow 3-4 1-2 7, Josiah Harris 3-8 1-2 7. Totals: 42-100 21-32 122.

Three-pointers: Allen 5-26 (Wright 2-6, Rollerson 2-5, Shelley 1-6, Reynolds 0-5, Whittick 0-2, Mahgoub 0-1, Jenks 0-1), Cowley 17-44 (Henderson 4-8, Clark 4-6, Brown 4-5, Edmundson 2-7, Ridgnal 1-4, King 1-3, McCray 1-2, Campbell 0-4, Allen 0-1, Robins 0-1, Mikalopas 0-1, Yow 0-1, Garang 0-1). Rebounds: Allen 48 (Traore 12), Cowley 64 (Ridgnal 13). Assists: Allen 13 (Word 6), Cowley 18 (Ridgnal 4). Turnovers: Allen 26, Cowley 16. Total fouls: Allen 28, Cowley 28. Fouled out: Sylvester. Technicals: Word, Wright, Sylvester.