HUTCHINSON, Kan. - You could sense that the tank was running on empty mid-way through the second half of the NJCAA Championship game Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena. Bot that didn't take away from a very successful season and run in Hutchinson for the young, Cowboy team, that seemed to have a special purpose.
The Connors State warmups read “This one’s for Momma Muse” and that mantra was the rallying cry for three months.
Connors became the Cardiac Cowboys at the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championships this past week but saw the ultimate dream escape in the title game with a 69-61 loss to Trinity Valley,Texas, Community College on Saturday in Hutchinson, Kansas. But what a run by the Cowboys.
Fueled by the unexpected December death of Connie Muse, wife of head coach Bill Muse, mother to assistant coach Bill Muse Jr. and the mother hen of Connors basketball for 33 years, this team put their grieving coaches on their shoulders. This was a team that featured 11 new players with no returners but found a higher purpose to come together and breeze through the conference and Region 2 tournament to give the elder Muse his 17th trip to the JUCO nationals.
Despite their 25-3 regular season record, the Cowboys were never ranked in the top 25 during the season and drew the 17th seed in the tournament. The first game was against 16th seeded John A Logan (IL) College. And this is where the fun begins.
The Cowboys trailed late in the game but went on a 19-5 run over the last six minutes and still trailed by 10 with 5:24 to play. Freshman Jermiah Johnson had three steals, five free throws and a tip-in in the final three minutes and DJ Dormu, who earned the Bud Obee Small Player of the Tournament Award, hit four charities in the last five seconds to seal an 80-75 win. Dormu had 25 points and big man Ed Daniels, who along with Dormu was named to the All-Tournament Team, recorded his first of five double doubles with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
The next game was against top-seeded and number one ranked Snow (UT) College and will be remembered for Dormu’s Immaculate Connection. The Cowboys started slow, but grabbed the lead at halftime and led most of the second half until Snow managed the first of four ties and seven lead changes in the final eight minutes. With the final tie at 60-all, the Badgers Mark Brown hit a pair of free throws with five seconds left for what looked like would be a Snow win. But Dormu got the ball just across mid-court and launched a 30-foot prayer at the buzzer that found nothing but net, and the Cowboys again pumped up the blood pressure with a 63-62 win. The Washington D.C. prep school product finished with 22 points and five assists while Daniel had 13 points and 18 rebounds.
The quarterfinal game against eighth seeded Daytona (Fl) State again saw Connors come from behind with a 14-0 run over the last three-and-a half minutes capped by a game-tying 3-pointer by Dormu with :38 left. Daniel hit the game-winning free throw with seven seconds left and grabbed a rebound off a missed charity to secure a 66-65 victory. The Cardiac Cowboys rally again.
After a day off, the Cowboys played South Plains, Texas, College in the semifinals. This looked like it would be an easier game as Connors played well and the Texans struggled from the field with the Cowboys owning a 40-28 lead at the half. But South Plains took advantage of a 27-7 gap in second chance points to stay close and eventually made it 67-63 with 4:52 to play. Connors stretched it back out to 11 on a trey by Dormu with 3:26 left and the Texans would get no closer than five the rest of the way as Connors won 80-74.
Playing their fifth game of the tournament compared to just four for Trinity Valley, the Cowboys just ran out of gas in the second half scoring just 29 points as the seventh-seeded Cardinals played tough defense against Dormu limiting him to 16 points on 7-of-23 shooting while Daniel had 12 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out late.
As comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to complain “I just get no respect”, the Connors State Cowboys could make the same claim for the second year in a row with no ranking and low seeding. But this time they had a mission and surely some divine help from Momma Muse to gain that respect and send Papa Muse to his first ever championship game in what had to be the most challenging and maybe rewarding season of his long coaching career.