WARNER —  The Connors State Cowboys broke open a close game in the second half but then had to hang on for dear life at the end to pull out a 90-79 win over Western Oklahoma State in the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference opener Monday night at Melvin Self Fieldhouse.

After a nip-and-tuck first half that saw the Cowboys grab a 37-34 halftime lead, Connors' two stalwart sophomores stepped up. Jahcoree Ealy put in 28 points including 12-of-12 from the charity stipe, and Jarquavious Cain, after getting just a couple of free throws in the first half, came on strong to score 13 in the second half.

"Those two guys are going to have carry the load for us because we have 10 new guys," said Cowboys coach Bill Muse, his team now 4-0. "It's still just game four for us and usually by now we've played close to 20 games so we're still teaching and looking to find the pieces to go around Cain and Ealy."

Connors was 22-of-26 from the free-throw line in the second half while Western (4-1) was 12-of-16 while losing two players to fouls.