Men's Basketball
Cowboys Sign Porter HS Star
Connors State head basketball coach Bill Muse has announced the signing of Porter High School’s Erick Braodnax to an NJCAA National Letter-of-intent.
Broadnax, 6-foot, 8-inch center, led Porter to a 24-7 record last season and to the area finals. He was a member of the Muskoge Phoenix All-Area Team.
Harrison Signs With Stephen F. Austin
Connors State’s Jared Harrison, 5-10 sophomore point guard from Slidell, La., has signed a NCAA Division I National Letter of Intent with Stephen F. Austin University, announced Cowboys head basketball coach Bill Muse.
Harrison, who was named to the Region II and Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference first teams, averaged 12.4 points a game for the Cowboys. He shot 82 percent at the free throw line, 49.2 percent from the field, including 43 percent from behind the arc. Harrison is averaged 3.2 assists per game and 1.3 steals.
Stephen F. Austin, located in Nacogdoches, Texas, competes in the Southland Conference and posted a 20-12 record last season under head coach Danny Kaspar.
Cowboys Rank Among Top 10 on NJCAA Statistical Charts
Connors State Cowboys finished among the top 10 in four categories of the NJCAA National basketball statistics for the 2011-12 season.
Cowboys led the nation in field goal shooting percentage at 54 percent for the season. CSC also ranked No. 4 in 3-point shooting at 40 percent and No. 8 in the nation in free throw shooting at 70 percent.
Connors was 10th on the NJCAA national scoring chart averaging 87 points per game.
The Cowboys under head coach Bill Muse completed the year with a 23-7 record.
Carl Albert Upsets Cowboys in Region II Tournament
SHAWNEE –It was a game of two halves and Carl Albert State won the one that counted…the second half.
The 10-seeded Vikings rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to score 53 points in the second to shock No. 2-seeded Connors State 71-64 in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region II Basketball Tournament at Oklahoma Baptist University’s Noble Center Friday afternoon.
Connors ends its season 22-8, while the Vikings advanced to the semifinals with a 7-23 record.
“It was two completely different halves,” said Connors coach Bill Muse. “I don’t know what happened to our team in the second half. We came out with a 13 point lead, hold them to 18 points in the half and they come out and score 53 the second half.
“It was just unbelievable the performance. We got one good performance and that was (Shaquille) Shannon (who finished with a double-double, 25 points and 10 rebounds). Our point guard made the first shot of the game and then missed everything else.
“And, it was just a total breakdown on defense. We couldn’t guard them at all. We panic a little bit at the end when we got behind.
“It’s very disappointing. We can be happy we won 22 games, but to come into the first round of the tournament and play like this…..is really disappointing,” said Muse.
The Cowboys led 31-18 at the break opened but opened the second half cold from the field. Connors failed to score a field goal for six-minutes. Josh Cameron ended the drought scoring on a short jumper. He finished with 13 points.
During the Connors scoring drought, Carl Albert cut the margin to seven points, 33-26 at the 14:00 mark. Carl Albert took its first lead of the game 40-39 with 7:10, but it was short lived as Cameron scored on a reverse layup for a 41-40 Cowboys lead with 6:48 left.
However, that was the last time Connors would hold the lead as Jaymere Hadden scored giving the Vikings a 42-41 advantage, a lead they never relinquished. Carl Albert stretched its lead to as many as 10 points, 64-54 late in the game with Myron Williams leading the assault.
Williams led the Vikings scoring with 26 points, draining 9-of-18 attempts. Adrion Webber followed with 15 and Jamal Allston added 14.
Carl Albert shot 43 percent from the field (22-51) and 6-of-13 from behind the arc. Connors was 20-of-58 from the field for 34.5 percent and just 6-of-24 on 3-point shots for 25 percent. The Cowboys outrebounded Carl Albert 40-33, including 17-8 on the offensive end.
Cowboys jumped out to a 31-18 lead at the break behind the hot shooting of Terrance Walker and Shannon who scored 10 points each. The Cowboys shot 40 percent in the opening 20 minutes, canning 10-of-25 attempts.
Defensively Connors was outstanding as the Vikings managed only 29 percent from the field on 7-of-24 attempts. The Cowboys controlled the boards the first half outrebounding Vikings 22-13, including six offensive boards.
Connors largest lead of the half was 16 points, 26-10 at the 6:02 mark on a pair of free throws by Walker.
Carl Albert 71, Connors State 64
Carl Albert 18 53—71
Connors State 31 33—64
Carl Albert (7-23) –Harmon 26, Webber 15, Allston 14, Hadden 6, Gallion 6, Williams 3, Gracie 1.
Connors State (22-9) –Shannon 25, Cameron 13, Walker 11, Harrison 6, Henderson 4, Moore 3, Worthy 2.
Region II Games Can be Viewed on Webcast
Fans and students of Connors State Cowboys and Cowgirls basketball, who cannot attend the NJCAA Region II Basketball Tournament that begins on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Thursday, can view the games on a web cast presented by Infinity Sports.TV.
To get the web cast go WWW. Infinity Sports.TV and click on watch “Live” button or http://www.infinitysports.tv/region_2_webcast.html
The Cowgirls open the Tournament on Thursday at 1 p.m. against Murray State in the quarterfinals, while the Cowboys open quarterfinals play on Friday against Carl Albert State College at 1 p.m.
Semifinal play for both the men and women will be held on Saturday and the championship games on Sunday. All games will be held at Oklahoma Baptist University.
Cowboys to Play Carl Albert in Region II Tourney Opener
Connors State Cowboys, the No. 2 seed in the NJCAA Region II Basketball Tournament at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee will play Carl Albert State College in the quarterfinals Friday.
Carl Albert advanced to the 1 p.m. Friday quarterfinal game against Connors with a 73-70 overtime win over Northeastern A&M on Monday night in a first round contest at NEO. The Vikings enter the quarterfinals with a 6-23 record.
The Cowboys are 22-7 for the season and defeated Carl Albert twice in the regular season.
Top seed Eastern State will play Western State at 8 p.m. Friday after Western State eliminated Seminole State on their home floor 78-73. Eastern enters with a 27-3 record while Western State is 14-16.
NOC-Enid (2O-9) will open quarterfinal action against Arkansas Baptist (19-12) at 3 p.m. Friday. Arkansas Baptist advanced with a 95-92 win over Redlands Community College in El Reno Monday night.
NJCAA Region II Pairings Announced
The National Junior College Athletic Association Region II basketball pairings have been announced and the Connors Cowgirls will open play on Thursday, March 8 against Murray State at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.
The Cowgirls (17-12) and Lady Aggies (17-10) will tip-off the tournament at 1 p.m. Other first round women’s games will have Northeastern A&M (20-9) playing the winner of Redlands (13-16) and Eastern State (9-20) which is played Monday night in Wilburton in a play-in game, at 3 p.m.
Seminole (18-8) will meet the winner of a play-in game between NOC-Tonkawa (15-15) and Arkansas Baptist (21-8) at Tonkawa Monday night, at 8 p.m. Thursday, while top seed NOC-Enid (27-3) goes against the play-in winner between Western State (8-17) and Carl Albert (11-17) at Altus, 6 p.m. on Thursday.
The semifinals will be played on Saturday, with the championship game to be played on Sunday.
In the men’s bracket, Connors Cowboys (22-7) will open play on Friday at 1 p.m. against the play-in winner of Northeastern A&M (12-18) and Carl Albert (5-23) Monday night at Miami.
Other first round pairings will have NOC-Enid (20-9) playing a 3 p.m. clash against the winner of the Redlands (14-14) and Arkansas Baptist (18-12) at El Reno Monday night. NOC-Tonkawa (17-13) will play a 6 p.m. game Friday against Murray State (13-14) while top seed Eastern State plays at 8 p.m. against the play-in game winner between Seminole State (9-19) and Western State (13-16) Monday night at Seminole.
The semifinals will be Saturday and the championship game is Sunday.
Cowboys Named to All-Region and OCAC Teams
Connors State’s Jared Harrison, 5-10 sophomore point guard from Slidell, La. was named to the Region II and Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference first teams.
Named to the OCAC third team were 6-1 freshman guard Josh Cameron from Racine, Wis., 6-8 sophomore forward Terrance Walker from Jonesboro, Ark., and 6-3 sophomore guard Shaquille Shannon from Philadelphia, Pa.
Harrison averaged 12.4 points a game for the Cowboys. He shot 82 percent at the free throw line, 49.2 percent from the field, including 43 percent from behind the arc. Harrison is averaging 3.2 assists per game and 1.3 steals.
Cameron is scoring at a 15.1 clip and is a 42 percent field goal shooter, while connecting on 81.6 percent of his free throws. On three-point shooting Cameron averages 43 percent.
Walker averaged 10.8 scoring with a 63 percent shooting mark from the field.
Shannon averaged 11.8 scoring, 75 percent at the line and is a 43.3 percent shooter from the field. He has averaged 1.5 steals per contest.
Cowboys Knock Off No. 6 Eastern State
WILBURTON – Connors State behind the double digit scoring of Jared Harrison, Terrance Walker, Shaquille Shannon, Denell Henderson and Josh Cameron, the Cowboys knocked off the National Junior College Athletic Association’s No. 6-ranked Eastern State Mountaineers 81-74 on their home floor.
The victory boosts the Cowboys record to 22-7 and 12-6 in OCAC play, while the Mountaineers fall to 15-3 in league action and 27-3 on the season.
Harrison led the Cowboys scoring assault with 18 points followed by Walker’s 16 point production. Shaquille Shannon pumped home 13 followed by Henderson’s 12 and Cameron’s 10 points.
“We played solid basketball,” said Connors head coach Bill Muse. “We held them below their 90 point scoring average with good defensive play. This gives us some momentum going into the Region II Tournament next week.”
The Cowboys knocked down 23 of 36 free throw attempts against the Mountaineers. Connors trailed 39-36 at the intermission, shutting down Eastern’s offense in the second half with tenacious defensive play.
Therone Chilton led the Eastern scoring with 19 points, followed by Mikel Terrance’s 14 points and Rod Lewis’ 12. Antwan Cathey scored 10 in the loss.
The Cowboys will now await the Region II Tournament pairings and All-Region selections which are due out on Friday.
CONNORS STATE 81, EASTERN STATE 74
Connors State 36 45—81
Eastern State 39 35--74
Connors State (22-7, 12-6) –Harrison 18, Walker 16, Shannon 13,Henderson 12, Cameron 10, Moore 6, Worthy 6
astern State (27-3, 15-3)—Chilton 19, Mi. Tarrance 14, Lewis 12, Cathey 10, Jones 6, Calloway 5, Ma. Tarrance 4, McClure 2, Ebondo 2..
Cowboys Roll Past Western State on Sophomore Night
It was Sophomore night at Connors State as six Cowboys played their last game at Melvin Self Field House Monday night, Jared Harrison, Devin Harris, Jerome Hamilton, Terrance Walker, Tyren Knight and Tevin Worthy .
The result was an 86-76 victory over Western State in an Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference clash and snapped a two-game losing streak.
Cowboys placed five players in double-figure scoring led by Worthy and Shannon with 16 points each. Cameron followed with 13 with Walker and Devante Moore scoring 11 and 10 respectively.
Connors is now 21-7 going into the final regular season game on Thursday at Wilburton, against No. 6-ranked Eastern State. The Cowboys are 11-6 in OCAC play. Western State falls to 12-16 on the year and 5-12 in league play.
Connors broke open a tight ball game midway the second half with a 10-2 run to take a commanding 63-48 lead with 11:22 remaining. The Cowboys’ largest lead of the game was 17 points 67-50 with 9:28 left.
The Pioneers battled back to with seven points, 74-67 before the Cowboys took control with clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, connecting on 6-of-6 attempts.
“We let them get back into the game in the second half, but that’s been the story all year long for us,” said head coach Bill Muse. “We can’t put people away, we can’t sustain it. We have got to find a way the next couple of games or its going to be a short (Region II) tournament.”
Muse said he was “happy” with the Cowboys’ offensive output. But not defensively or at the free throw line.
“Our offense is fine, but we gave up too many points at home,” said Muse. The Cowboys were just 25-of-41 at the line. “We have got to concentrate at the line. We have shot 69 percent this year and last season we led the nation at 75 percent. It was one of those nights were it was a lack of concentration and not a lack of form.”
Cowboys held a precarious 41-33 lead at the break, as they managed to drain only 9 of 20 free throw attempts. However, Moore came off the bench to drain two consecutive back-to-back 3-point shots to put the Cowboys up 10 points, 36-26 at the two-minute mark. It was the largest lead of the half for Connors.
Connors State 86, Western State 76
Western State 33 43—76
Connors State 41 45—86
Western State (12-16, 5-12)—Jackson 15, Rowson 15, Williams 11, Grant 11, Patton 10, Hargrove 6, Lewis 3, Harp 3, Allen 2.
Connors State (21-7, 11-6)—Worthy 16, Shannon 16, Cameron 13, Walker 11, Moore 10, Henderson 9, Harrison 9, Knight 2.