By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor

WARNER — After cruising through JV divisions of four-year programs, Connors finally got its first look at some junior college competition playing a seasoned Richland (Texas) College squad on Saturday at Melvin Self Field House.

The Cowboys’ 68-61 win that completed a two-game sweep of its own Coke Classic was somewhat easier than the score might have indicated. C.J. Washington, the game’s top scorer with 15 points, scored on a turnaround in the low post for a 16-15 lead with 12 minutes to go until halftime and Connors wouldn’t trail again, leading by as many as 12 when the opened the second half with an 8-0 run.

“When we’ve had wins of 15, 16 and 20 against JV teams I thought this was definitely a test, a good close game at home to see how we’d come out of it,” Connors coach Bill Muse said. “They’re not ranked but they had 10 returning players who have stayed together over the summer. When you have that continuity on the other side and we’ve got two back, it was the kind of test we needed.”

Sporadic shooting and turnovers by the Cowboys, now 4-0, kept Dallas-based Richland (3-2) within single-digits most of the second half but never less than four.

“That had a lot to do with our inexperience,” Muse said. “We had a couple of new players out there and made some bad decisions at times which kept us from breaking it open.”

Washington had nine of his points in the second half and Justin Butler came off the bench to score nine second-half points on 4-of-4 shooting. He finished with 11. Chris Blake started and scored 12 of his 14 in the first half and finished with a team-high nine rebounds. Ray Jones also had 11 points.

“We’re young but we’re developing our chemistry with guys getting some quality minutes. We’ve got about nine guys in a rotation who are going to jell.”

Connors gets Oklahoma Baptist’s JV at home Monday. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.