Cowboys Knock Off #6 Ranked NEO A&M on Last Second Shot

In an action-packed night, the Connors State Cowboys scored a thrilling come-from-behind win over #6 Ranked Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to win their sixth straight and stay in the thick of the conference battle.

Cowboys Knock Off #6 Ranked NEO A&M on Last Second Shot
Box Score
January 30, 2025

Warner, OK- In an action-packed night, the Connors State Cowboys scored a thrilling come-from-behind win over #6 Ranked Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to win their sixth straight and stay in the thick of the conference battle.

Freshman DJ Dormu hit a running three-pointer from 22 feet with one second left to bring the Cowboys back from an 19-point deficit for a 78-75 win over the sixth ranked Norse featuring former Cowboy Buddy Hammer.

The Cowboys played with a hand and half, figuratively speaking, tied behind their back without a couple of key starters-big man Ed Daniel who played sparingly on a bad ankle and freshman Dashaun Spence, also with an ankle injury who did not play at all-and the Norse (16-4, 4-3) took advantage of the mismatches inside against the taller Hammer and the bigger Chris Mason. NEO jumped out to a 10-pint lead in the first eight minutes and stretched it to a 15-point margin by halftime. The second half started much the same until coach Bill Muse made some changes.

"We went to a zone defense and just chipped away and chipped away, got it down to six a couple of times and just hung in there and made some shots. We didn't panic and I think maybe they did towards the end when they saw their lead slipping away," said Muse.

Freshman Kevin Stubblefield scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to spark the Cowboy rally and Dormu had 15 of 18 points in the second half including the game winner which he dedicated to the memory of Muse's wife Connie who passed away last month.

"I knew we needed a big play and when we came out of the timeout, I knew I had to hit it for Mama Muse, coach Muse and (Bill Muse) junior because they're going through so much and so I did it for her," said Dormu.

Connors (17-2, 6-1) trailed 50-32 with 15 minutes to play but slowly narrowed the lead until it was tied at 66-all with 4:45 to play. Jermiah Johnson hit a pair of buckets to give the Cowboys their first lead at 72-71 with 1:40 to play. Aric Walls added two more for the Cowboys to make it 74-71 with 1:16 left. Hammer, who led the Norse with 17 points, hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to two but on the next trip down missed the front end of a one-and-one. NEO tied it back up at 75 with 8.2 seconds left on a long-range trey by Damarion Vann-Kelly setting the stage for Dormu's game winner.

Connors will be back in action at home Monday against Eastern at 7:30 p.m.