Jackson earns career win No. 200 in dramatic fashion

The Cowley College men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat Redlands Community College 91-87 Tuesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. The players celebrated the come-from-behind victory, the 200^th in the career of Tiger head coach Donnie Jackson, by dousing their head coach with water in the jubilant home locker room.

"Last year, we lose that game," Jackson said. "This year, we have experienced guards that kept making plays, and we hung around long enough to win. After all the adversity and battles we faced last year, it was fun to share win No. 200 with the returning players."

After going 5-of-8 from three-point range in the opening half, the Cougars' Gregory Limage buried his sixth three of the game on the opening possession of the second half. However, that would be his final field goal attempt, as Cowley denied Limage the ball the rest of the way.

"We made some adjustments at halftime and did a good job of tightening up on him in the second half," Jackson said.

The Tigers trailed 49-41 at the end of the first half and were behind by as many as 12 points (60-48) before mounting their comeback. An alley-oop dunk by sophomore transfer Cameron Jernigan capped a 6-0 Cowley run and energized the crowd.

Cowley would tie the game for the first time since the score was 15-15 when sophomore Mekhi Cameron hit his fifth three-pointer to make the score 82-82 with 1:25 remaining.

Following a missed shot by Redlands' Jayhden Moncrease, Jernigan was fouled on the rebound. The 6'8" forward made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to give Cowley an 83-82 lead with 51.1 seconds left.

The Tigers would get another key defensive stop before things got wild. The Cougar's head coach Jose Molina Negron argued what he thought was a missed backcourt violation by the Tigers before he was given a technical foul with 17.8 seconds remaining.

Only nine seconds later, and with his team trailing 86-84, Negron was whistled for a second technical foul. The Tigers would hit 5-of-6 free throw attempts in the final eight seconds to hold on for the 91-87 win.

Cameron scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, while point guard Raishaun Brown added 22 points.

"When we need to make plays, those are the two we need taking the shots," Jackson said.

Sophomore Xavier Washington added 13 points, while fellow sophomores Trevion Alexander (nine rebounds) and Mooch Austin (seven assists) were also critical to the win.

"Trevion and Mooch are glue guys for us," Jackson said. "I also thought freshman Demare Smith defended well and played some key minutes down the stretch."

Limage led the Cougars with 21 points but scored only three points after halftime. Moncrease added 14 points and 14 rebounds as Redlands begins the season with a record of 0-1.

The Tigers, which are receiving votes in the national rankings, will now prepare for back-to-back home games as they will host the Cowley Classic on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Cowley will play Allen County Friday before taking on Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa on Saturday. Allen is ranked fourth in the NJCAA Division II preseason national rankings, and NOC-Tonkawa is a long-time rival of the Tigers.

"The competition will not get any easier. It will be a really good classic and should allow us to see where we are as a team," Jackson said.

Box score:

Redlands (87): Gregory Limage 6-9 3-3 21, KD Jolly 4-12 2-2 13, Jared White 6-12 0-0 13, Jayhden Moncrease 3-13 7-8 14, Cadin Augustine 4-4 2-4 10, KJ Jefferson 3-6 0-0 6, Khyree Taylor 3-5 2-3 8, Ijai Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Grayden Baker 1-4 0-0 2, Anthony Turner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-65 16-20 87.

Cowley (91): Raishaun Brown 6-11 7-11 22, Mekhi Cameron 7-15 7-10 26, Xavier Washington 5-8 3-4 13, Cameron Jernigan 3-4 2-5 8, Trevion Alexander 1-9 0-0 2, Mooch Austin 1-3 2-4 4, Xavier Valley 2-3 2-2 8, Damare Smith 1-4 0-0 2, Demetrius Rives 2-6 0-1 4, Corey Thomas 0-0 2-2 2, Kobe Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Jackson Greene 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-66 25-39 91.

Three-pointers: Redlands 11-28 (Limage 6-8, Jolly 3-10, Moncrease 1-5, White 1-2, Jefferson 0-2, Taylor 0-1), Cowley 10-29 (Cameron 5-10, Brown 3-6, Valley 2-3, Washington 0-2, Smith 0-2, Rives 0-2, Alexander 0-1, Austin 0-1, Davis 0-1, Greene 0-1). Rebounds: Redlands 41 (Moncrease 14), Cowley 27 (Alexander 9). Assists: Redlands 13 (Moncrease 3), Cowley 15 (Austin 7). Turnovers: Redlands 10, Cowley 7. Total fouls: Redlands 23, Cowley 18. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Redlands bench (2), Brown.