Coffeyville wins first juco basketball championship since 1962 in all-Kansas final
For the first time since 1953, two Kansas teams battled it out for the NJCAA men’s basketball national championship on Saturday night when two Cinderellas from the Jayhawk East met each other in the finals at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
It was No. 10 Coffeyville, an at-large selection who won five games in six days, that came out on top, 108-99, over No. 8 Cowley, a team that erased a 25-point deficit to stun the overall No. 1 seed days earlier, to win the NJCAA Div. 1 men’s basketball title.
For Coffeyville, it was the program’s first national championship since 1962.
“This is just so awesome,” Coffeyville coach Jay Herkelman told The Hutchinson News. “Been in Coffeyville for 26 years and doing it. We brought a lot of good teams over here and haven’t got it done.
“It’s just such an awesome feeling to be able to finally get this accomplished.”
Coffeyville (27-3) was led by a career performance from its 6-foot-10 freshman center Blaise Keita, a 2022 Nebraska commit, who erupted for a career-high 27 points on 13-of-16 shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Guard Tylor Perry, a North Texas commit, was named tournament MVP and added 18 points in the title game.
Cowley (24-5) was led by a team-high 21 points from Mikel Henderson, who was named to the all-tournament team, as was teammate Dalen Ridgnal, who scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the title game.
Just days after erasing a 25-point deficit against the No. 1 seed, Cowley nearly did the same feat in the title game. Trailing by 24 points early in the second early, Cowley mounted a ferocious comeback down the stretch that saw the Tigers close to one possession of the lead in the final 90 seconds.
Cowley trailed 97-82 with 4:32 remaining, but reeled off a 17-5 run that featured seven points from Jacquez Yow, including the layup that capped the run and trimmed Coffeyville’s lead to 102-99 with 1:13 remaining.
The Tigers actually had two possessions to potentially tie the game in the final minute after drawing two charging calls on Coffeyville. The first chance was squandered by an offensive foul call of their own with 40 seconds remaining, while the second chance ended with a missed layup with Coffeyville’s Larry White coming up with a loose ball. Perry made two free throws with 18 seconds for a 104-99 lead to all but seal victory.
It was the third meeting this season between the Jayhawk East rivals after the two teams split the regular-season meetings with Coffeyville winning the first game, 107-85, then Cowley winning the second, 86-77.
It was the first time in 64 years Cowley was playing in the national tournament after the Tigers punched their ticket by defeating Hutchinson in the Region VI tournament championship game.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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