Tigers knock off NOC-Enid in Jackson’s return to Cowley

After previously serving four years as an assistant coach at Cowley College prior to spending the past eight years at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, Donnie Jackson made a triumphant return to Arkansas City as the Tiger men's basketball team got past Northern Oklahoma College-Enid 62-55 Monday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

"I felt right at home once I walked out onto Dan Kahler Court and appreciate the crowd and community support we got for the season-opener," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

The Tigers scored the first eight points of Monday's game and led by as many as 17 points (30-13) following a basket by returning sophomore Clarence King. However, the Jets closed the half on a 13-2 run to trim Cowley's lead to 32-26.

Raishaun Brown, the only other returning Tiger from a season ago, scored inside to increase Cowley's lead to 38-28 with 17:30 left. Brown and King would score 12 points apiece and combined to shoot 12-of-21 from the floor.

"Rai and C.K. set the tone early," Jackson said. "We will go as far as those two go early in the season."

NOC-Enid would fight back to tie the game at 40-40 and trailed only 49-48 following a basket by Chris Wiseman with 7:40 left to play.

Once again, Cowley had an answer. This time, freshman Xavier Washington came through with a big-time dunk that keyed an 11-0 Tiger run to push the lead back to 12 (60-48). Cowley made 11 straight defensive stops during the run.

"Until our offense catches up, we should hang our hats on the defensive end," Jackson said.

The Jets continued to battle and scored seven points in a span of a minute to pull within 60-55 with one minute remaining, but freshman Mekhi Cameron's basket with 27.8 seconds left helped seal the win. Cameron came off the bench to finish with a game-high 14 points, while Washington added 12 points and eight rebounds.

"Both those guys can start, but at the end of the day we need some scoring off the bench," Jackson said. "This way, they can look for their own shots and be more aggressive coming off the bench. They both showed the kind of players they can be."

The Tigers out-shot NOC-Enid 46.4 percent to 37.1 percent from the floor. The Jets were led by Quentin Harvey's 10 points in defeat.

Cowley will now prepare to host Jackson's former school, Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Mavericks opened the season with a 98-68 home win over Labette on Monday.

"It will be emotional for me," Jackson said. "But, the game is not about me, it's Cowley vs. NOC-Tonkawa. Coach Brad Witherspoon has got a good team, so we will have to be able to adjust on the fly."

Box score:

NOC-Enid (55): Jlynn Counter 2-10 3-5 8, Alex Raiford 0-4 1-2 1, Dakoda Joachim 4-11 0-0 8, Quentin Harvey 5-9 0-0 10, Caleb Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Jaden Robinson 1-9 0-1 3, Matus Skuben 3-5 0-0 7, Chris Wiseman 4-4 1-1 9, Donovan Scott 1-2 0-3 2, Raul Nunez 0-1 0-0 0, Keyshon Spotwood 3-6 0-0 7. Totals: 23-62 5-12 55.

Cowley (62): Raishaun Brown 6-10 0-0 12, Clarence King 6-11 0-0 12, Emmanuel Austin 1-2 0-0 2, Xavier Valley 0-5 0-0 0, Kennedy Willis 3-5 2-3 8, Mekhi Cameron 5-11 2-2 14, Xavier Washington 4-8 1-4 12, Brandon Jenkins 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Trevion Alexander 1-2 0-0 2, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Spenkuch 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-56 5-9 62.

Three-pointers: NOC-Enid 4-20 (Counter 1-4, Robinson 1-4, Skuben 1-3, Spotwood 1-1, Joachim 0-4, Raiford 0-2, Nunez 0-1, Wilson 0-1), Cowley 5-20 (Cameron 2-5, Washington 2-4, Valley 0-4, Brown 0-2, King 0-1, Jenkins 0-1, Alexander 0-1). Rebounds: NOC-Enid 29 (Harvey, Robinson 6), Cowley 24 (Washington 6). Assists: NOC-Enid 8 (Joachim 4), Cowley 7 (Brown 3). Turnovers: NOC-Enid 6, Cowley 6. Total fouls: NOC-Enid 7, Cowley 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.