Slow Start Dooms Seward at Cowley
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College (4-6, 1-5) | 24 | 39 | 63 |
|
Cowley College (6-4, 3-3) | 48 | 31 | 79 |
A brutally slow start did the Seward County Saints in Wednesday night on the road in Arkansas City as the guys in green fell behind by 24 at the break to the Cowley Tigers before going down 79-63 to fall to 1-5 in Jayhawk Conference play on the season.
It certainly wasn't the start that the Saints were looking for as they tried to build on their first conference win of the season Saturday night at Pratt as they immediately fell behind the Cowley Tigers 9-0 four minutes into action Wednesday in Arkansas City. Seward finally got their first bucket 4:10 into the game and fought back to get to within two at the 8:00 mark at 12:10. But as soon as they got back in it, the Tigers struck back, scoring the next eight points to double up Seward at the first half media timeout 20-10. Cowley pushed their lead to 27-14 moments later and scored 21 points in the final 5:40 of the half to blow the game wide open to 48-24 at the halftime horn. Seward allowed Cowley to shoot 55% from the floor in the first half and continued a disturbing trend of not defending the three point line where the Tigers shot 53% in the first 20 minutes. The Saints shot 48% in the half, but turned the ball over 17 times and registered just one assist in the period.
A pair of early threes from Charles Beauregard tried to get the Saints back into the game, but Seward just couldn't slow Cowley enough to get back to within striking distance as it remained a 22 point game in favor of the Tigers with 16:00 to go. Slowly Seward worked their way back in though and by the media timeout in the second half, they had drawn back to within 11 at 63-52. But just as soon as it looked like the Saints were back in it, the Tigers pushed them back out, going on a 10-1 run to blow their lead back open to 20 at 73-53 with 5:30 remaining. The Saints never threatened again, eventually falling 79-63 to drop their fifth conference game in six tries this season.
Seward shot 50% from the field in the game, but turned it over 26 times, yielding them 16 less field goal attempts then the Tigers in the contest. Beauregard led Seward with 16 off the bench while Kevin Sims added 15 and Malik Brown scored a career high 12 in the loss.
The Saints fall to 4-6 overall and a disappointing 1-5 in conference action on the season while Cowley remains unbeaten at home at 6-0 as they improve to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in league play on the year.
Things won't get a whole lot easier for the Saints as they get the Coffeyville Red Ravens at home in the Greenhouse on Saturday in an 8:00 tip. Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsors Holiday Inn and Flooring America, at their Liberal locations, or at Pizza Hut and Hutch's in North Liberal.