Tiger basketball team advances to Region VI semis with 87-74 win over Dodge City

The top-seeded Cowley College men's basketball team rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat ninth-seed Dodge City by a score of 87-74 in the Second Round of the Region VI Playoffs held Tuesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The Tigers (27-4) finish the season with a home record of 17-1 and advance to face fifth-seed Butler Community College on Friday at 3 p.m. at Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS. Dodge City had its five-game winning streak come to an end and finished the season with a record of 15-17.

"Our crowd support has been an X factor to our success at home," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "We are really proud of the accomplishment and appreciate the support we get from the community."

Tuesday's first half featured five ties and 11 lead changes, the last one coming when Dodge City's Koch-Deng Koch scored off a steal just before the halftime buzzer, giving the Conquistadors a 34-33 halftime lead.

Trailing 54-53 with 10 minutes remaining, Cowley got back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Shamarrie Hugie before Marcus Whitlock capped the 9-0 run with another three-pointer to give the Tigers a 62-54 lead.

"That was a key stretch that gave the team momentum and brought the fans in W.S. Scott Auditorium to their feet," Jackson said.

Cowley would go on to lead by as many as 16 points and had five players score in double figures.

Sophomore Avante Nichols had a pair of alley-oop dunks to excite the crowd and scored 13 of his 15 points after halftime. Meanwhile, fellow sophomore Shamarrie Hugie led Cowley with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"Dodge City is very good, and were playing their best basketball at the end of the season," Jackson said. "Our sophomores made play after play in the second half and carried us."

Sophomore Marcus Whitlock added 17 points and five boards, while other Tigers in double figures were sophomores Marcus Zeigler (16 points), and Dallas Whitney (12 points, seven rebounds, five assists).

"The sophomores put us on their back," Jackson said. "They knew this was their last game in W.S. Scott and did not want to leave with a loss."

Dodge City's Mynor Strong scored a game-high 26 points, but the Conquistadors shot just 33.3 percent as a team.

This will be the third meeting between Cowley and Butler, with the teams splitting the regular season series. Former Tiger assistant coach Eric Nitsche had a strong first season as head coach of the Grizzlies, as they will enter the contest with a record of 22-10.

"Butler is more than capable of winning the region tournament," Jackson said. "They have a playoff-type team with their size, so we will have to be efficient offensively and find a way to rebound and finish around the basket."

Box score:

Dodge City (78): Jayce Boatright 3-11 6-8 16, Derrick Rivers 5-17 0-0 14, Kejuan Payne 3-9 0-0 6, Mynor Strong 8-21 8-9 26, Wesly Rosa 1-2 0-0 2, Keshawn Brown 0-4 3-4 3, Koch-Deng Koch 2-5 2-2 6, Daouda Cisse 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 24-72 20-25 74.

Cowley (87): Shamarrie Hugie 5-8 4-4 18, Emarquis Jones 3-3 1-2 7, Marcus Zeigler 6-15 2-3 16, Dallas Whitney 4-18 2-4 12, Marcus Whitlock Jr. 5-11 4-4 17, Avante Nichols 5-6 5-7 15, CJ Majors 1-3 0-1 2, Kyden Thompson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-64 18-25 87.

Three-pointers: Dodge 6-26 (Rivers 4-10, Strong 2-10, Boatwright 0-2, Brown 0-2, Payne 0-1, Deng-Koch 0-1), Cowley 11-27 (Hugie 4-5, Whitlock 3-6, Whitney 2-8, Zeigler 2-6, Nichols 0-1, Majors 0-1). Rebounds: Dodge 44 (Rosa 9), Cowley 42 (Hugie 11). Assists: Dodge 9 (Brown 3), Cowley 18 (Whitney 5). Turnovers: Dodge 16, Cowley 11. Total fouls: Dodge 19, Cowley 20. Fouled out: Rivers. Technicals: none.