Tigers can’t get over the hump in 68-61 loss to Barton

Coming off a win at No. 11-ranked Dodge City on Saturday, the Cowley College men's basketball team was hoping to make it back-to-back wins as they returned home to face Barton Community College on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Tigers fell behind early and were not able to recover in the 68-61 defeat.

Barton raced out to an 11-2 lead in Wednesday's contest and led by as many as 12 points (31-19) before Cowley closed the first half on an 11-4 run as they trailed 35-30 after one half of play.

Cowley would tie the game on three occasions in the second half, the final time coming at 43-43 following a three-pointer by sophomore Mooch Austin with 13:50 remaining. However, Barton would answer by scoring nine of the next 11 points, and despite hanging close, the Tigers could never gain the lead.

"I was hoping we would use our big win on the road vs. Dodge City and our great home crowd as a springboard to start moving forward," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "Unfortunately, we were flat a majority of the night. We couldn't guard the downhill drive or make the big play to get over the hump. We have no one to blame but ourselves."

Cougar Downing led four Barton players in double figures with 19 points as the Cougars improved their record to 13-7 overall and 8-6 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Mekhi Cameron led Cowley with 12 points, while Xavier Washington, Damare Smith, and Xavier Valley scored 11 points apiece.

Cowley will look to put the loss behind them when they host Northwest Kansas Tech Saturday at 5 p.m. The new members of the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame will be honored at halftime of the men's game.

The Mavericks (8-12) are coming off a 76-67 win over Butler on Wednesday and defeated Cowley 70-65 on November 26 in Goodland.

"We need to have a short-term memory and start preparing for NW Tech," Jackson said. "They just beat Butler and run zone (defense) all night long. We didn't fare well up there, so we will need to play better."

Box score:

Barton (68): Mozae Downing-Rivers 3-13 1-1 8, Cougar Downing 5-10 8-8 19, Hannes Saar 5-11 2-4 14, Cooper Jackson 2-5 1-2 5, Aime Rutayisire 7-10 2-2 16, Ring Malith 1-3 0-0 2, Amiri Rutayisire 7-10 2-2 16, Ring Malith 1-3 0-0 2, Amiri Ndayisaba 0-0 0-0 0, Howard Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Stefan Spray 1-2 0-0 2, Nicodemo Majuec 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 25-58 14-17 68.

Cowley (61): Mekhi Cameron 4-9 1-1 12, Xavier Washington 5-9 1-1 11, Jeff Nwankwo 3-9 0-0 6, Damare Smith 3-7 2-2 11, Demetrius Rives 0-2 0-0 0, Mooch Austin 2-3 1-2 6, Xavier Valley 4-7 0-1 11, Cameron Jernigan 1-5 0-0 2, Trevion Alexander 0-1 0-0 0, Corey Thomas 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-53 5-7 61.

Three-pointers: Barton 4-19 (Saar 2-4, Downing-Rivers 1-5, Downing 1-5, Jackson 0-2, Johnson 0-2, Malith 0-1), Cowley 10-23 (Cameron 3-7, Smith 3-5, Valley 3-4, Austin 1-1, Nwankwo 0-3, Washington 0-2, Rives 0-1). Rebounds: Barton 31 (Downing-Rivers 7), Cowley 30 (Washington, Nwankwo 6). Assists: Barton 7 (Downing-Rivers 2), Cowley 15 (Alexander 5). Turnovers: Barton 7, Cowley 11. Total fouls: Barton 16, Cowley 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Washington, Downing.