Andy Shaw had a good handle on which team would prevail Saturday — the one which played tougher.
Sure enough, the visiting Cowley Tigers exercised some late muscle, coming away with key defensive stops and offensive rebounds to emerge with a 71-68 win over Shaw’s Allen Community College Red Devils.
The loss snaps a two-game winning streak and drops the Red Devils to 12-7 on the season (1-1 in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play).
“They made the plays to win the game and we didn’t,” Shaw said. “They were the tougher team today.”
The game was hard-fought to the bitter end, featuring eight ties and 11 lead changes.
Allen had its chances, even while going through an eight-minute field goal drought late.
Missed opportunities for the Red Devils — influenced heavily by Cowley’s rugged post players — pushed the Tigers in front, 70-55, with 34.9 seconds left.
Courtney Stockard ended the Red Devil field goal drought with 20.8 seconds remaining to cut the gap to three, and Allen got the ball back when a Winfield player inexplicably landed out of bounds as he received the inbound pass.
The Red Devils looked for an open 3-pointer before Tray Fountain drew a foul on a drive to the hoop. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to cut the deficit to two.
Allen’s next missed opportunity came when Cowley’s NaQuavious King — fouled after he rebounded Fountain’s miss — also went 1 of 2 from the line, giving the Tigers a 71-68 lead.
But his miss was pulled in by teammate Earl Bryant.
The Red Devils had one last shot at a tie after Bryant missed both free throws, but a pair of Red Devil desperation 3-point attempts were off the mark as time expired.
“Their size really bothered us inside,” Shaw said. “We didn’t do a good job of getting to the rim. We threw up too floaters that they were able to block.”
The Tigers racked up 11 blocks on the afternoon, and outrebounded Allen, 52 to 42.
Cowley led by eight in the first half before Allen’s offense began to click late in the first half.
Raheem Tyner’s 3-point play put the Red Devils on top, 30-29, with just under 5 minutes left in the period.
Allen took a 39-37 lead into halftime before Cowley opened the second period with a 10-2 run, capped by a pair of King free throws.
Alex Miller drained a long jumper and a 3-pointer before Stockard’s 3-point play put Allen back on top, 57-55, with 8:45 left.
The Red Devils didn’t score again until Stockard’s putback with under a minute left. They also missed 3 of their last 6 free throw attempts.
“We didn’t shoot good free throws late,” Shaw said. “And they did.
“It’s about the little things,” he continued. “Right now, we’re doing the little things about 60 percent of the time. Until we can do it 100 percent of the time, it’s going to be a roller coaster.”
Tyner led Allen with 18 points and six rebounds, followed by Miller with 14 and Stockard with 13 points and four steals. Tyrone Jones added five blocked shots.
King’s game-high 25 points for Cowley included 11-for-12 shooting from the line. Bryant and Kazmere Boyd added 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.
Cowley (37-34—71)
Allen (39-29—68)
Cowley (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Sims 3-1-1-7, Smith 1-0-3-2, Goodlow 1-0-0-2, Boyd 4/1-0-3-11, Bryant 3-6-3-12, King 4/2-11-2-25, McLendon 1-0-4-2, Lynch 0-0-1-0, Leak 1-0-1-2, Ratliff 2-0-1-4, Maxwell 1-0-4-2, Alexander 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 22/3-18-24-71.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 1/1-0-3-5, Fountain 0-3-3-3, Sluder 0-0-3-0, Stockard 3-7-2-13, Sweet 2/1-2-3-9, Keiwswetter 0-0-1-0, Miller 2/3-1-3-14, Jones 3-0-1-6, Tyner 6-6-0-18. TOTALS: 17/5-19-19-68.
Late plays lift Cowley over Red Devils
