By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Abilene Cowboys began their sub-state run with a bang on Tuesday night, comfortably dispatching the Mulvane Wildcats 69-54 on their home floor.
A hot start would set the tone for Abilene, who spread their scoring evenly throughout the evening, with seven different Cowboys contributing a bucket in the first quarter, and eight different Cowboys scoring by the final buzzer.
When the Cowboys led by ten at the end of the first it appeared the rout could be on, but Mulvane battled back behind 14 first-half points from star guard Manny Myers to keep the deficit at ten going into the halftime locker room.
Turnovers were a huge issue for the Wildcats, who coughed up the ball 12 times in the first half, but Mulvane cut that down considerably in the third quarter, and made this a game, trailing by as few as four, and by just six going into the final frame.
From there however, it was all Cowboys, as Abilene outscored their foe 20-11 in the final eight minutes to cruise through the semifinal round.
Manny Myers and Jack Entwisle led the charge in the losing effort, scoring 17 and 15 points respectively.
Meanwhile Abilene was led in scoring by Ian Crump (21) and Tyler Holloway (13).
Mulvane’s season draws to a close at 6-15 while the Cowboys, now 15-6, return home on Friday to host Wellington with a ticket to the 4A state tournament on the line.