Dodge City men's basketball declawed a top-ranked Cowley team for the second straight year at home as the Conquistadors picked up their second win over a Top 10 team this season, winning 78-75.
The win for the Conqs moves them to 5-3 on the season and 1-1 in KJCCC action, while also marking the sixth win over a Top 10 team under head coach
Brad Witherspoon.
Cowley grabbed the early lead, going up 7-2 over the first three minutes of action, but the Conqs would tie the game up at 9-9 with a
Rickey Loftin II three-pointer with 15:01 remaining in the first half. With just over 13 minutes left in the half, the Conqs took their first lead since 2-0 after a Lofitin II three-pointer to make it 12-11. A 6-0 spurt put the Tigers back on top until the Conqs managed to tie the game again, this time at 19-19, only to see a 5-0 Tiger run to make it 21-19. Conqs tied it up at 24-24 and then 26-26 with free throws from
Derrick Rivers and used the free throw line in the first half to grab the lead 37-32 at halftime scoring the final seven points of the first half. Conqs would go 21-23 from the free throw line in the first half while only netting seven field goals but lead by five at intermission.
In the second half, the Conqs continually fended off Cowley, but the Tigers kept it close, drawing within one 46-45 with 11:32 left and then a tie game at 54-54 with 9:12 remaining. A barrage of three-pointers by
Brad Johnson gave the Conqs a 9-0 run on three threes by Johnson to lead 63-54; after a Cowley three, Johnson hit his fourth straight three-pointer and the Conqs led 66-57 with just under seven minutes left. Cowley again had a push in them as they managed to draw even at 70-70 with 3:22 remaining; however, the Conqs got back-to-back layups to push the lead back to four. A three-pointer by the Tigers made it 74-73, and after a missed shot by the Conqs, Rivers got a steal to give the Conqs the possession back and drained a pair of free throws to make it 76-73. Up 78-75 after two more Rivers free throws, the Conqs saw Cowley had a last-second heave that fell short, and the Conqs secured the win.
Conqs finished the game shooting 41.5% from the floor, shooting 51.7% from the field in the second half as a team. The free throw line was big again for the Conqs as they were 26-31, while the defense held Cowley to just 36.4% shooting.
The duo of Rivers and Johnson accounted for 53 points in the win. Rivers tallied his third 30+ point performance of the season, scoring 31 points on 5-10 shooting and 20-20 free throws, adding eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Johnson had a career-best 22 points, hitting five three-pointers while adding three rebounds and three assists. Loftin II added 10 points on 4-7 shooting.
The Conqs will look to rest up and work in practice through Thanksgiving break before hitting the court again for more KJCCC action on Saturday, November 29th at Cloud County.
