Coffeyville Survives Overtime And Northern Oklahoma Tonkawa
Northern Oklahoma Tonkawa, the No. 2 seed, and Coffeyville CC, seeded 10th, battled it out for the second sport into NJCAA final four. Cowley College, a fellow Region 6 combatant, had just qualified two hours earlier. Would there be two Kansas teams in the semifinals?
After a FT gave Coffeyville a one point lead, from that point forward , Tonkawa crescendoed into a 41-34 halftime advantage, largley due to the efforts of Nate Goodlow and Malik Crawford dropping in 13 and 12 points respectively. The Mavericks shot a blistering 15 for 25 from the field, including 5 for 7 from three.
The Red Ravens, matched the Mavs three point numbers, but connected on only 42% of their first half FGs, going 11-26. Coffeyville also hurt their own cause being overpowered around the glass, with a minus 9 rebounding margin.
CCC, chipping away at the NOC lead, about as slowly as Tonkawa had built it, tied the score five minutes plus into the second frame. Blaise Keita made the two FTs to even things up. Then after a missed three from Tonkawa’s JD Ray, Keita hit a soft jumper to give the Ravens the lead, at 47-45.
It didn’t take long for Northern to regain the lead, but they only held it just under 7 to play when a Markeith Browning triple put Coffeyville on top 61-60. The lead changed six time the rest of the way until just under two minutes remained.
The score was 71-69 tilted toward the Mavericks side of the scoreboard, when guess who went the FT line for Coffeyville?…Blaise Keita, who calmly hit both tosses to knot the game for the 7th time.
Nothing happened after that, neither team scored again during the final minute-forty, which meant for the second time in the tournament, we needed extra time to decide a winner.
Coffeyville took the lead early and carried it to the end, winning a thriller 83-80, and a spot in the final four. CCC will meet the winner of the Indian River State (FL)/Chipola College (FL) quarterfinal later tonight. That game will be Friday, April 23 at 7:00.
Top gun for Coffeyville Markeith Browning, collecting 23 points, going 8 for 11 from the field. Next in line was Keita who ended up with 19 adding 6 rebounds. Others in double digits were Tylor Perry with 16 and Love Bettis getting 10. Bostyn Holt was team high in rebounds with 7 and assist with 3.
Northern Oklahoma Tonkawa finished the season with a 24-2. They were lead by JD Ray’s 22, who also was team high dishing out six assist. Avante Lederer finished with 18 on 5 FGs and 7-9 from the charity stripe. Malik Crawford was accountable for 12. Tyrel Morgan ended up with a double-double, charting 12 boards and 11 points.
