ACCC men claim first victories

Playing on their home court was just what Allen County Community College’s men needed.
They played three games on the road to open the 2011-2012 season. Then last week it was three at home.
“We had a chance to win the game with Hutchinson. Even though we lost it, I could see the progress the team had made. That rolled over to this weekend and the guys played well,” said Anwar Perry, ACCC men’s head basketball coach.
Allen County’s men went into this weekend’s Red Devil Classic at 0-4. They are 2-4 now after beating Penn Valley Community College 87-73 Friday for their first win of the season. They then turned back Butler Community College 84-77 Saturday.
The Red Devils had lost 70-57 to Hutchinson at home Tuesday. That was a five-point game at halftime.
Defense was key in their two wins.
“We defended better in both games. We’re still struggling with our rebounding. We were up 44-29 at half against Butler and they were able to cut the margin to three points by outrebounding us. They had 21 offensive rebounds and we had a total of 29 rebounds for the game,” Perry said.
“We have to get better on the boards.”
Friday night, Allen County led Penn Valley 45-41 at halftime and lost the lead.
“We pressed them and caused havoc. That’s how we regained the lead,” Perry said. “We had a couple of different starters in the first half who stepped up. In particular Mychael Anderson did a good job.”
Perry said he had to sit sophomores Rickey Hollis and Thomas Daniel on the bench for the first half “for missing class.” Hollis and Daniel did play in the second half Friday night.
Another factor to put ACCC in the win column, 63 percent shooting from the field. The Red Devils hit 29 of 46 overall. The Red Devils sank 23 of 30 free throw attempts while Penn Valley was 18 of 23 from the line.
Anderson fired in 13 points and Canon Fields, who was 9 of 10 at the line, led the Red Devils with 17 points. Terrell Shears had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
In Saturday’s contest, the Red Devils rolled to a 44-29 halftime advantage. Butler made a run in the second half hitting the backboards well to get second scoring opportunities on possessions.
Canon scored 22 points and dished out 10 assists. Jeff Romeus had 13 points while Shears tossed in 12 points and had 13 rebounds. Tyrone Jones added 10 points.