Second Half Dooms No. 11 Butler at No. 9 Cowley

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. – The 11th ranked Butler Community College men's basketball team fell 69-59 to the No. 9 ranked Cowley Tigers at William S. Scott Gym on Saturday afternoon.

Butler (14-4, 9-3 KJCCC) wraps up the first round of conference play with a 9-3 league record, sitting in fourth place. The loss snaps a two-game win streak. The Tigers (16-2, 11-1) sit in first place in the conference standings and have won three straight.

Butler led 32-27 at halftime but the Tigers outscored them 42-27 in the second half. Cowley took its first lead of the second half with 12:37 to play and did not trail again in the game. Their largest lead of the game was 13 points at the 5:23 mark.

The Grizzlies shot 34.4% (22-64) from the field while Cowley shot 37.9% (25-66). The Grizzlies were just 7-32 (21.9%) from distance with Cowley shooting 6-18 (33.3%). Butler edged out Cowley in rebounding (39-36) and Cowley forced four more turnovers (16-12) in the game.

With Butler trailing 26-24, they went on an 8-1 run over the final 2:34 of the second half to take the 32-27 lead to the locker room as Rashad McCormick connected on back-to-back shots and Kaeson Fisher-Brown and AJ Pierre-Jerome also made buckets.

Cowley shot 42.9% from the field in the second half and 50% from three (5-10) compared to 32.3% from the field in the first half.

McCormick led Butler with a season-high 14 points off the bench to go with five rebounds and two blocks. 11 of his 14 points were scored in the first half. Devonte Reed finished with 13 points and Russell Branch added 10 points, six rebounds and two steals. Emeka Opurum pulled down nine rebounds and blocked four shots.

Cowley's leading scorer also came off the bench in Dallas Whitney. He totaled 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Marcus Whitlock Jr. had 13 points.

Butler returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 25th, when they travel to Pratt for a 4 p.m. tipoff vs. the Beavers.