Former Muskogee Rougher Javontae Campbell put in 20 of his team high 22 points in the second half and for the second time this season the Connors State Cowboys dropped a heartbreaker to the Mavericks of Northern 81-79 Thursday at Melvin Self Fieldhouse.
The first time the teams met, the Cowboys got beat on a last second 3-pointer, 83-80.
The game was reunion for Campbell and his former Muskogee teammate Xavier Brown who started and played most of the game for Connors and had five points on the night.
The game was tight the entire night with neither team managing to get more than a five or six point advantage. The Cowboys played tight defense in the first half and limited Northern to just 36 points. But the 45 second half point total told the tale despite a spectacular 31-point performance by Bixby sophomore Xavier Glenn for Connors.
Connors last lead in the game came at the 13 minute mark to play 58-53 but Northern came back to tie it at 60-all halfway through the second half. Northern recaptured the lead at 75-71 with three minutes left only to have the Cowboys tie it back it up a minute later. It remained tied at 79-79 as the clock ticked inside a minute to play but Campbell would hit one of two charities at the :26 second mark and after the Cowboys missed a shot to take the lead Montrez Ward was fouled with 2.8 seconds left and hit one-of-two for the final Northern point.
Obviously disappointed after losing a close one at home, Cowboy coach Bill Muse spelled it out.
“They played tougher than we did. We missed key free throws,” he said. “Made a horrible foul with three seconds left and couldn’t guard Campbell. Nobody could guard him and giving up 45 points in a half won’t beat many teams in this league. We had the lead at halftime like we did up there and just weren’t tough enough in the second half.”
The Cowboys fall to 21-5 on the season with those five losses coming by a combined 10 points, and 8-5 in OCAC action while the Mavericks improved to 12-16 on the year and 6-8 in the conference. Besides Glenn, Tamaury Releford had 16 points while Brayden Hubbard and Mason Alexander had 10 points each for Connors.
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