Garden City coughs up second-half lead; falls to Cowley in first-semester finale

Garden City, KS-Unfortunately this game turned out to be a carbon copy of the Barton loss. 

Mekhi Cameron scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, Jeff Nwankwo chipped in 13 off the bench, and Cowley erased a nine-point second-half deficit to beat Garden City, 79-71 Monday night at Conestoga Arena. The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 9-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play.  

Garden City was their own worst enemy all night, committing 17 turnovers that led to 20 Cowley points. They missed nine free throws (12-of-21) and surrendered 11 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. It also didn't help that Buru Naivalurua turned in his worst shooting game of the season. The freshman was just 3-of-9 from the field despite logging 40 minutes. 

Leading 19-15 after David Elliott's layup with 9:10 to go in the first half, the Tigers responded with a 9-0 run that was punctuated by Nwankwo's corner 3 that put the Tigers up three. Moments later Nwankwo grabbed his own miss and threw it down with two hands, and Trevion Alexander hit a reverse layup to give Cowley a 28-21 advantage. Garden City was down six at the intermission. 

But Rusty Elmore's team came out with a different energy to begin the second half. Larry Olayinka dropped in a soft finger roll, Jaborri McGhee hit two free throws, and DaJion Humphrey rattled home a contested jumper before draining a step-back 3 to give Garden City a 51-45 advantage with 13:51 to go. It was all part of a 26-17 run that had the Broncbusters up by nine with 9:21 on the clock.  

But as quickly as they built the lead, Garden City watched it evaporate. Cowley roared back with a heavy right cross, answering with a 16-5 run, and when Xavier Washington knocked down a 12-footer, the Tigers were up 66-64 with 5:23 remaining. That's when Cameron took over, making an acrobatic layup in traffic followed by a step-back triple over the outstretched arms of Olayinka. Moments later he beat McGhee on a blowby before laying the ball softly off the window with the left hand over two Broncbuster defenders. 

Cameron finished 9-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-9 from 3 for Cowley (9-5, 3-5), which snapped a two-game losing streak.  Cameron Jernigan added 12 points and six boards. 

Humphrey poured in 24 points for Garden City, which saw its two-game winning streak halted. Olayinka, McGhee, and Aundre Polk each had 10 points.