Sewardsaints.com
COFFEYVILLE – Holding a 71-70 lead with 13.2 seconds to play, No. 25-ranked Seward County needed a stop to close out a road victory over the Coffeyville Red Ravens on Wednesday night at Nellis Hall.
Coffeyville (14-7, 8-7 KJCCC) called a timeout after crossing half-court with nine seconds to go. Out of the timeout, Jeremiah Lucas drove in and kicked it out to Konstantin Popovic deep on the left wing who connected on a three with aman in his face and one second to spare. The three sealed the win for the Red Ravens and handed the Saints (14-7, 9-6) their second consecutive loss.
Seward returns home to host the Hutchinson Blue Dragons on Saturday at 4 p.m. Billy's Ayr Lanes is the game sponsor, and tickets can be picked up at Billy's, Flooring America and the KSCB office.
Coffeyville tied the game at 61 with 4:31 to play and took its first lead since the 15:07 mark when Kaason Thomas made a layup to make it 65-63 with 3:29 remaining. A Tristan Walton three for the Ravens put them ahead 70-67 with 1:47 but Antonio Williams Jr. countered with one of his own in the corner on the following possession. Neither team scored again until Korbin Dowdell went 1-2 from the free throw line with 14 seconds remaining.
Williams Jr. led Seward with 16 points while Dowdell finished with 12 and four steals.
The Red Ravens scored the first six points of the second half and opened the half on a 9-2 run building a 44-37 lead. The Saints responded using a 9-0 run to lead 46-44 as Brevyn Coleman contributed six points and Lucas N'Gombo three. A Bailey Milligan three made it 51-45 Seward with 11:14 to play. Milligan hit another three and JJ Chapman put in a jumper to make it 56-50 with 9:08 on the clock. Seward's largest lead of the game came when Milligan put in a layup to make it 59-50 at the 8:24 mark.
Milligan finished with 12 points shooting 5-8 from the field. Coleman had eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Coffeyville led for the first 10 minutes of the game but the Saints were close by throughout. Seward's first lead of the game came at the 9:47 mark when Korbin Dowdell converted an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 20-19. RJ McKinnie hit a three to add to the lead on the next possession. Seward did not trail again in the half leading by as much as seven multiple times in the final minutes of the half. The game went to halftime tied 35-35 with Coffeyville closing the half on a 7-0 run over the final 1:36.
Seward shot 24-55 (43.6%) from the field, 8-11 (72.7%) from three and 15-25 (60%) from the free throw line. They turned the ball over just 10 times compared to 23 from Coffeyville. The rebounding battle was nearly equal with the Red Ravens squeaking out a 34-32 advantage.
Coffeyville shot 23-48 (47.9%) from the field, 12-25 (48%) from three and was 15-19 (78.9%) at the free throw line.
Rashid Kuta led them with 22 points and 10 rebounds shooting 10-11 from the charity stripe. Jeremiah Lucas added 21 points.
