The Jayhawk Conference schedule is off to a great start for ACC’s men’s basketball team. After winning last week against Labette County, the Red Devils moved to 2-0 in conference with a 68-53 win over Hesston on Saturday night.
The win was never in doubt after the Red Devils jumped out to an early lead following a hot start, punctuated by a Scottie Turner three-pointer. Allen shot the ball very well early and limited turnovers. Allen’s threes kept falling and the Red Devils opened up a sizable lead as the half churned on.
Allen led 35-16 at the half.
The second half was much of the same. Allen kept the pressure up and dominated the boards. The game got physical late as Hesston tried their hardest to mount a comeback. Each time Hesston started to get hot, the Red Devils would put the brakes on. Allen also benefited from good ball movement and good shooting from outside of the paint.
The Red Devils were able to spread minutes out late and 12 players saw time in the game with nine of them scoring for Allen. The Red Devils won the rebound battle 52-33 and got 12 second-chance points, compared to Hesston’s two.
Scottie Turner scored 16 points. Cedric Rollerson scored 13. Ed Wright scored nine. Brandon Lawrence, Brayden Thompson and Ahmed Mahgoub each scored six. Nick Whittick scored five. Zabriel Boozer scored four. Chris Dixon scored three.
“It was a good first half. Our defense was probably the best it has been all year,” said Allen head coach Andy Shaw. “I would have liked to have handled the second half a little better than we did. We didn’t quite have that killer instinct and keep that lead at 20 and bury them. At the end of the day, in our league a win is a win.”
Allen, 13-4, hosts Highland Community College on Wednesday.
