2021 Champions

Coffeyville Denies Another Cowley Comeback To Win 2nd National Championship

Hutchinson, KS-April 24, 2021

Some of the content is taken form both Cowley College and Coffeyville SID department

In the first NJCAA Men’s DI Championship following the covid cancellation, it was a rematch of two teams from the same region (6), and same conference (Jayhawk East), one of the best in the country. But it was not the first time two members of Region 6 (KS) went up against each other for the NJCAA crown. More on that at the end.

In their two previous meeting, each team won on their own home court. Cowley triumphed 86-77 in Arkansas City. Coffeyville returned the favor downing the Tigers 107-85 in Raven-ville. Cowley took a record of 24-4 into the game. Coffeyville stood at 26-3. The team’s shared the Jayhawk East Conference title.

Cowley, the nations leading point producers at 109.4 ppg, came into the game averaging 116.3 ppg during their first three games in the tourney, for a total of 355. That translates to slightly under 3 points per minute. The record for most points in four games in the tourney by one team is 450. The Tigers needed 96 to set a new one.

On the defensive end, the Tigers don’t fare so well stopping their opponents, giving up the nation’s worst 95.9 ppg. Head Coach Tommy DeSalme doesn’t care about that stat, he said earlier this week that they don’t let what the other teams are doing stop them from doing what they do…push the pace and launch threes.

According to DeSalme, their two year mission with this program, and this bunch of recruits, was to punish their opponents with continuous a fast break pace. But instead of finishing in the paint, they prefer to launch threes. The Tigers have certainly lived and died by the three’s, and their two year record since adopting that style…50-11 (.820). Only 15 times of the 61 games did they fail to breech the century mark. What’s more, they won the Jayhawk East Title outright in 2020 and shared the trophy with Coffeyville this season.

On the other bench, Coffeyville is one the stingiest teams in the country, allowing only 62.0 points per outing (#2), have the 20th ranked offense with and average of 84.9 ppg. This was their 16th overall appearance in the National Tournament, and fifth consecutive. In addition to tying Cowley as Conference Champs this season, the Red Ravens won it outright in 2018 & 2019, finishing 3rd in 2020.

This is the the third trip to the title game for the Red Ravens, winning it all in 1962 and finishing runner up in 2002. Cowley is making its second appearance in the finals. The Tigers finished second in 1953, when El Dorado JC (now Butler) another Kansas school met.

Much like they did in their last two games, Cowley started off a little slow, trailing 60-40 at intermission. The Tigers shot a dismal 35% from the field (13-37) and only hit 5-17 from distance. They were averaging over 40 3-point attempts per game in the tournament, making over 20 of them. Cowley set a tournament record by connecting on 22 threes in their quarterfinal win over Mineral Area College, the No. 1 seed.

Cowley also had twice as many turnovers, which is just the opposite of what they normally do. One glaring stat was points in the paint. CCC outscored the Ravens 44-14 down under, 10 to 3 on points off turnovers, and 10-zip on fast break points. The last two stats certainly tilted in the wrong direction than the Tigers are used to. But they always believe they can win.

In other words, Cowley had them right where they wanted them. The Tigers trailed at half in the last two games by double digits. Mineral Area had them down 61-43 in quarterfinal action. They lagged behind Ranger College in the semifinals, 55-42. However, in each of those contests, Cowley was able to overcome those large deficits and pull out victories.

Down 20 at the halfway point, the Tigers (24-5) clawed all the way back to within three, 102-99, with just over a minute left, but couldn’t complete the trifecta of three straight 20-plus point comebacks. Instead, they had to settle as the national runner-up, losing 108-99, the only time in the tournament they failed to score over one hundred.

“I was OK with whatever happened today. Yes we wanted to win a national championship, but I also knew that if I didn’t win it, a really good friend of mine (Jay Herkelman-Coffeyville Head Coach) was going to win it,” acknowledged Cowley head coach Tommy DeSalme.

Cowley trimmed ten of its 24-point deficit to trail 79-65 midway through the second half. The Tigers raged on, climbing to within three,102-99, after sophomore Jacquez Yow’s bucket with 1:12 remaining. Yow, garnering more minutes due to Ridgnal’s injury, ended up with 15 points and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes of action.

Cowley had possession of the ball down three when Yow missed inside and the rebound went out of bounds off the Tigers with 21.9 seconds left. Forced to foul, Perry made a pair of free throws to increase Coffeyville’s lead to 104-99. After a Cowley turnover, the Red Ravens were able to extend the lead to final 9 point margin with two Love Bettis FT’s and a thunderous exclamation point dunk from Larry White just before time expired.

“We knew we were not out of it and made an incredible run without Dalen (Ridgnal, the team’s leading scorer),” DeSalme said. “We had a great opportunity to win a national championship. I told the team the effort we put in defines us as a great team. We came up short tonight, but this is an incredible group of kids and an assistant coach in Eric Nitsche. These sophomores put us on a national stage and we were all lucky to watch it.” he added.

Coffeyville seized their second National Championship in school history, winning it all in 1962 over Lon Morris College (TX). It was Head Coach Jay Herkelman’s second trip the championship game, the first came in 2002, losing by a single point to Dixie State College (UT).

Herkelman, the Hall of Famer, was named Coach of the year in the post game awards ceremony. The Coach had these comments on his team’s accomplishment, “It takes a tremendous defensive effort the way they (Cowley) play (to keep them below 100 points). We did it twice during the regular season. Our guys were comfortable guarding them and knew what the task was, but they also knew it was a long way from being over even when we were up 20+.”

Herkelman continued, “In order to beat these guys you have to hold them to under 100. And our guys just had great effort out there, one-on-one defense, helping each other, I thought we did a pretty good job of rebounding too.”

With the win, Coffeyville finishes their Championship season with a record of 27-3. Winning their last five games since the Plains District Semifinal loss to Hutchinson, 76-75. And 9 of last ten following their last match up with Cowley, the 9 point setback in Arkansas City back on March 27.

All but one of the nine Red Ravens who played, scored. Seven of those players totaled double figures, including all five starters.  Red Raven freshman center Blaise Keita went for a career-high 27 points on 13-16 shooting. Keita, who made the All-Tournament team, also grabbed 9 rebounds, narrowly missing a Championship game double-double.

Rounding out the double-figure scorers for Coffeyville included Tylor Perry with 18 points, RS-SO guard Kevaughn Ellis with 14 points, Love Bettis and SO forward Bostyn Holt each had 12 points. Larry White and RS-FR Markeith Ellis each tallied 11 points. Perry dealt 7 assist, and Holt posted a doub-doub with 13 boards to compliment his dozen points.

Finishing as runners-up for the second time in two trips to the Championship, Cowley (24-5), was led by Mikel Henderson’s 21 points. He was followed by Dalen Ridgnal’s 17 and 7 rebounds. Ridgnal, All-Region First Team and Third Team All-American last season, played sparingly in the second half due to an injury. Shemarri Allen (7 assist) and Cevin Clark each finished with 11.

Ridgnal and Henderson (both All-Region team members in 2021, with Ridgnal 1st team and receiving MVP), were each named to the All-Tournament team for Cowley.

Coffeyville placed Love Bettis and Blaise Keita on the All-Tournament team. Tylor Perry was named the tournaments Most Valuable Player. Perry and Keita were both 2021 All-Region Team, 1st and 2nd team respectively.

Coffeyville’s Bostyn Holt and Love Bettis, along with Cowley’s Cevin Clark, Moun’tae Edmundson, and Shemarri Allen were all made the All-Region Honorable Mention squad for this year’s accomplishments.

From the sideline:

Coffeyville stopped Cowley’s 15 game winning streak.

Cowley is 0-2 in Championship games. Both losses to another Kansas college.

Coffeyville is now 2-1 in title games, winning in 1962 and 2021.

Cowley set a record for most points scored for a team in four games at the tournament with 454 total points, 134 vs. Trinity Valley, 105 against Mineral Area College, 116 in the semis over Ranger, and 99 tonight. The old record was 450 set by Lawson State CC in 1977.

Cowley and Trinity Valley (first round game) set a new record for most points by both teams in a game combining for 241 points (134-107). Previously, that record of 237 belonged to Tallahassee CC and North Idaho College, also posted in 1977.

In 1953, Cowley was the Region 6 Champion, and therefore was the automatic qualifier. El Dorado JC (now Butler College), was invited to play to replace another team. Olympic College (Bremerton, WA) had won the Region 3 Title, but the Washington Junior College Conference administrators had recently put rules in place which prohibited their teams from playing after March 15. This action forced Olympic to withdraw, thus opening up a spot in the sixteen tournament field.

There was another vacancy that year due to California’s boycott of the NJCAA national tournament, the same one they had won two of the first three years. In an effort to smooth the relationship, the NJCAA had even offered them a whole Region to themselves, separating Oregon and Washington in one together.

But the California region’s boycott continued and the invitation was offered to El Dorado, the Region 6 runner-up, as their replacement.

In all there were three invited teams who filled holes that year, due to various reasons. There was controversy with the Region 8 (FL) region winner due to ineligible player(s), so runner-up Jacksonville College eventually was offered that spot.

This was a frequent occurrence during the tournaments early years, as travel distance and budget constraints caused qualifying teams to often decline to participate. Schools with good records, good history at the National Tournament, and a close proximity to Hutchinson usually received those invites.

Here are the 2021 tournament award recipients:

WILLIAM FRENCH MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD

Tylor Perry – Coffeyville CC (KS) – 5’11” SO Guard – Fort Coffee, OK

BUD OBEE OUTSTANDING SMALL PLAYER AWARD (6’2″ and under)

Cevin Clark – Cowley College (KS) – 6’0″ SO Guard – Arkansas City, KS

CHARLES SESHER SPORTMANSHIP AWARD

Keisei Tominaga – Ranger College (TX) – 6’2″ SO Guard – Moriyama Nagoya Aichi, Japan

COACH OF THE TOURNAMENT

Jay Herkelman – Coffeyville CC (KS)

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM