Cowley trio off to fast start

Cowley County (Kan.) returned exactly one starter from last year's team that went 23-and-9 and lost in the second round of the Region VI tournament to Barton County. So coach Randy Smithson had no idea what to expect.

“With basically 15 new faces and we have one of the toughest schedules in America, to go out 4-and-1,” Smithson said. “There's no doubt this is going to be my best team I've had since I've been at Cowley. The kids are working hard and improving and I like my freshman crew. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of improving to do. A ton. But if they do it, they've got a chance to be pretty good.”

Cowley's last game was an 87-74 loss to Garden City. In that game, the Tigers had a 17 point lead with nine minutes to play in the first half.

“We just kind of self destructed,” Smithson said. “With that many new faces, eventually it's going to happen.”

However, there were bright spots in the game. Sophomore guard Damien Lolar led the Tigers with a season-high 29. It was the second straight game Lolar had topped 20.

“Damien's just an explosive guard, a big guard who can score inside, outside, score in transition,” Smithson said. “He's very hard to deal with one on one. He just knows how to get the ball in the basket, knows how to score. They need those at the next level.”

Which is why schools from Auburn to Creighton to UNLV are showing interest in the Cowley sophomore.

Lolar is probably the most heavily recruited of the sophomores, but he's not the only one who should be playing Division One ball this time next season.

Point guard and Topeka native Xavier Burnette is drawing interest from a number of Missouri Valley schools along with teams like Loyola and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

“Xavier is a two-year starter at point,” Smithson said. “He has a lot of experience, a lot of savvy and he can score from there. He's providing good leadership and his game continues to grow.”

Burnette is 6-foot-2, but he's hardly built like a traditional point guard.

“He's a very strong point guard,” Smithson said. “You can post him up too. That's one of the things you can do with him is post him. He knows how to get into traffic and score. He's not your typical point guard.”

Rounding out Cowley's trio of sought-after sophomores is 6-foot-8 Latvian Arturs Stalbergs, who had 13 in the loss to Garden City.

“At 6-8, he can play inside and out,” Smithson said. “He shoots very well, passes very well.”

Wichita State and Creighton are two of the teams the coach mentioned as showing interest.

Cowley resumes play Saturday night at home against Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa. The Tigers won a matchup between the two teams in Oklahoma earlier this season, 75-73 in double overtime.

JucoJunction.com will keep in touch with Coach Smithson and continue to keep tabs on Cowley County.