Team-effort lifts Tigers to 111-95 win over Hutchinson

Cowley College sophomore Mekhi Cameron hit back-to-back three-pointers to open Wednesday night's home game against Hutchinson Community College, and the Tiger men's basketball team went on to shoot 59 percent in a 111-95 win over the Blue Dragons.

Cameron finished with a season-high 29 points while going 5-of-9 from three-point range.

"Mekhi really set the tone by hitting those back-to-back threes to start the game," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "He came to play. We need him to be aggressive like that every night."

Cowley made 17-of-24 free-throw attempts in the opening half as they held a 58-54 halftime lead.

The Tigers would trail 74-73 midway through the second half before a 13-2 run, capped by a layup by Xavier Washington, put Cowley up 10 (86-76). Cowley would lead by as much as 20 points in the victory.

"That was a great team win for us," Jackson said. "The guys did a great job executing our game plan and bought into it for the full 40 minutes."

Both Cowley (7-3) and Hutchinson (8-3) are now 2-3 in the rugged Jayhawk Conference.

Raishaun Brown, who was recruited to Cowley by former Tiger and current Hutchinson coaches Tommy DeSalme and Eric Nitsche, came off the bench to score 17 points. Brown was one of six Cowley players in double figures as the Tigers' bench out-scored Hutchinson 67-16.

"Our bench energy was a big key. We had a number of guys step up," Jackson said.

Cowley will remain home to face Labette Community College (6-2) Saturday at 4 p.m.

"We can't let ourselves get comfortable after a big win," Jackson said. "We have to learn how to handle success and not take a step back. Labette is coming up next, and they have a good team. We will need to have two good days of preparation for them."

The Box score can be found at kjccc.org/sports/mbkb/2022-23/boxscores/20221130_1ztm.xml?view=boxscore.