The Coffeyville men's basketball team stamped its ticket to the NJCAA National Championship semifinals, defeating NOC-Tonkawa 83-80 in overtime on Thursday.

 

After double-digit wins against 23rd-seeded Southwestern Tennessee and 7th seeded Odessa, the 2nd-seeded Mavericks proved to be a tougher challenge for Coffeyville. Trailing 41-34 at the half, the Red Ravens would need to dig down and find something quickly. They'd do just that, going on a 13-4 run in the first seven minutes of the second half to take the lead at 47-45. The two teams would go back and forth for the final 13 minutes of play, and eventually needed overtime to decide the winner after both teams finished regulation with 71 points each.

 

The overtime period was just as close, but eventually Coffeyville would pull ahead. With the score pushing in Coffeyville's favor at 80-78, the Mavericks would take a timeout with 33.8 seconds remaining. Coffeyville would make the stop and get the basketball back, with NOC-Tonkawa fouling Love Bettis to give him a chance at the line. After Bettis made both, a Mavericks jump shot put the game back within two, before another foul sent Tylor Perry to the line. Perry would make one of his two tries. Now down by three, the Mavericks couldn't find the make from outside, despite getting two tries to do so, and Coffeyville would come out on top at 83-80.

 

Markeith Browning came up huge in Thursday's quarterfinal, recording a season high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Browning would also shoot 4-6 from beyond the arc. Blaise Keita also put forward a solid performance, picking up 19 points. Other double-digit scorers included Perry (16) and and Bettis (11).

 

The Red Ravens move onto the semifinals, where they will take on 6th-seeded Chipola. Fellow Jayhawk Conference rival Cowley also qualified for the semifinal, coming back from 25 points down to defeat 1st-seeded Mineral Area. They'll take on 13th-seeded Ranger. Coffeyville's semifinals game can be heard at 7 pm on US98.1, KUSN.