Cowley goes back atop the Jayhawk Conference with a 69-59 win over No. 11-ranked Butler

In a battle of ranked teams, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team put the clamps on defensively in a 69-59 win over 11^th-ranked Butler Community College on Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Butler (14-4) has dropped three of its past five conference games to fall into a tie for third place with Hutchinson with a conference record of 9-3. Cowley, winners of three games in a row, improves its record to 16-2 overall and 11-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Coupled with Cowley's win, Coffeyville suffered a 75-64 loss at Barton to fall into second place in the conference with a record of 10-2.

The first half of Saturday's game featured eight ties and five lead changes before Butler went into halftime with a 32-27 lead. The Grizzlies are coached by former Cowley College assistant coach Eric Nitsche, who is in his first year at the school.

"I thought Butler was the aggressor in the first half and kind of kept us on our heels," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said.

Cowley rallied to take its first lead of the second half at 38-36 when freshman CJ Majors hit a three-pointer with 12:30 left to play. The Tigers' lead would grow to 49-41 after a three-pointer by Emarquis Jones, and Cowley would go on to lead by as many as 13 points in the win.

"Once we got our rhythm going in the second half, I really liked our pace and tempo," Jackson said. "Credit to coach Eric for having his guys ready to play. He does a fantastic job, and I expect an absolute war when we face them at the Power Plant in El Dorado in the last regular season game."

After making only 1-of-8 three-point attempts in the opening half, Cowley went 5-of-10 from beyond the arc over the game's final 20 minutes of play.

"The momentum shifted when we started making the extra pass," Jackson said.

Sophomore Dallas Whitney, who played for Nitsche when he was an assistant at Hutchinson Community College, came off the bench to lead Cowley with 14 points and six rebounds. Marcus Whitlock added 13, while three Tigers finished with nine points apiece.

Rashad McCormick came off the bench to lead Butler with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

The Tigers will remain home to face Pratt on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Beavers (8-9) have dropped four games in a row to fall to 4-7 in the conference.

"Pratt will be a tough matchup, they have good guard play," Jackson said. "I am glad to be playing them at home as we begin the second round of the conference schedule."

Box score:

Butler (59): Russel Branch 3-10 3-6 10, Bubba Leavell 2-8 0-0 4, Devonte Reed 6-11 0-0 13, Jojo Adeoye 0-1 0-0 0, Emeka Opurum 1-3 2-2 4, Josiah Kirkwood 2-8 0-0 5, Rashad McCormick 5-8 1-2 14, Seven Bahati 0-4 0-0 0, Kaeson Fisher-Brown 2-9 0-0 5, AJ Pierre-Jerome 1-2 2-2 4. Totals: 22-64 8-12 59.

Cowley (69): Shamarrie Hugie 2-10 4-4 9, Marcus Zeigler 4-10 0-0 9, CJ Majors 4-10 0-0 9, Marcus Whitlock 3-8 6-8 13, Austin Fortune 0-2 0-0 0, Emarquis Jones 2-6 1-1 6, Avante Nichols 2-6 1-2 5, Dallas Whitney 6-11 1-3 14, Kyden Thompson 2-3 0-0 4, Teagan Charles 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-66 13-18 69.

Three-pointers: Butler 7-32 (McCormick 3-4, Reed 1-5, Branch 1-3, Kirkwood 1-3, Fisher-Brown 1-7, Leavell 0-6, Bahati 0-4), Cowley 6-18 (Hugie 1-3, Majors 1-3, Jones 1-3, Whitney 1-3, Zeigler 1-2, Whitlock 1-2, Nichols 0-2). Rebounds: Butler 39 (Oporum 9), Cowley 36 (Jones 7). Assists: Butler 6 (Fisher-Brown 3), Cowley 14 (Zeigler 4). Turnovers: Butler 16, Cowley 12. Total fouls: Butler 20, Cowley 12. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.