There were several keys to Allen Community College’s 84-59 win over visiting Neosho County Wednesday.
There was an assortment of thunderous dunks, mostly courtesy of Red Devil sophomore Amadou Traore. Fellow sophomore Freddie Word was his typical dynamic self, slicing to the basket with abandon, or finding a teammate for an easy lay-in.
But much of that likely would not have been possible without a stingy Red Devil defense, head coach Andy Shaw noted.
“That was the key right there,” Shaw said.
In particular, Shaw singled out the performance of sophomore Shaikim Jenks, who made life miserable for Neosho standout Magic Reliford, who came into the night as the reigning Jayhawk Conference player of the week, but exited the gymnasium with six points on 2-of-9 shooting.
It was that kind of night for the Red Devils, who have won three straight after coming off a 10-game losing streak.
Even better, the game lacked the drama of several previous Red Devil affairs, with ACC leading from start to finish.
“Our energy and urgency in the first half was unbelievable,” Shaw said.
Word had 16 as the Red Devils took control early, limiting Neosho to 21% shooting before the break, and held a 37-19 lead at intermission.
The Panthers, who didn’t emerge from the locker room until seconds before play was to resume in the second half, nevertheless came out on fire. Neosho took advantage of some lackadaisical ACC play to put together a 19-10 run to pare the gap to 47-36.
But Traore’s 3-point play with 11 minutes left stymied the momentum.
Word followed with a 3-pointer, and Ed Wright II banked in a runner to push ACC’s lead back to 55-37.
Traore, at 6-7 and 255 pounds, then showed why he has earned the nickname “Shaq” with a pair of mammoth dunks.
He stole the ball at midcourt then raced well ahead of the Panther pursuers for the slam, sending the hometown crowd into a tizzy.
A few minutes later, teammate Nick Whittick found Traore underneath for another stuff to push the lead past 20.
“I started kind of slow in the first half,” Traore said.
