Jay Daubenberger

Liberal, Kansas – After beginning Jayhawk conference action this past weekend on the road, the Seward County Saints men’s basketball team returned home to the Green House to face on another conference opponent in the Cowley Tigers where despite finding some late momentum in the second half, the Saints fell to Cowley 89-77.

Through the first couple of minutes the visiting Tigers were able to grab hold of a quick seven-point lead before Malakye Cunningham was able to knock down his first long range three of the game to put Seward County back to within four at 17-13. A few possessions later Amir Whitlock was able to slash his way down the lane towards the basket for an easy two points and close the gap to one at 21-20 before the big man in the middle Lovasoa Andriatsarafara helped the Saints take over the lead by stretching out the perimeter and nailing his first three-pointer of the season to put Seward County in front 26-25. But from their Cowley seemed to be unstoppable as they went on a 14-0 run to pull ahead 39-26 and it was a wrap for the first half as the Saints fell behind double-digits 49-34 heading into the halftime break.

Seward County was down big to start the second half of action and the Saints tried whatever they could in order to fight their way back to within reach. Whitlock cashed in a big three for SCCC off a dime from Cunningham to put the score at 53-39 in favor of the Tigers. Whitlock was hustling on both ends of the floor throughout the night as he was able to read a pass by the Tigers and intercept it for the steal which led to an athletic score by Nathan Jones at the rim to bring it to within thirteen 60-47 before Cowley regained full control and managed to overtake the Saints 89-77 inside of the Green House.

Carson Bennett led all scorers on the night with 19 points including 5 three-pointers. Blessin Kimble added on another 13 points to the scoreboard while Whitlock recorded his best game of his career with 12.

Seward had won five in a row in Liberal against Cowley.  It’s Seward’s first home loss against the Tigers since 2017.

Seward County now falls to 2-4 on the 2023-24 season with a conference record of 0-2 after falling to the Tigers. They will now put their attention towards #11 Butler in a big conference matchup in El Dorado, Kansas this upcoming Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 PM.  The game airs on B107.5.