CHANUTE — The Allen Community College men and women’s basketball teams completed a road sweep of local rival Neosho Community College on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Devils (20-7) cruised to a comfortable 68-52 victory over Neosho. The Lady Red Devils (16-10) forced the Panthers into a sloppy game with 24 turnovers in their 65-64 victory.
Red Devils
Saturday’s win gives Allen 20 on the season, something the team did last season when they won 28 games while going to NJCAA DII men’s basketball championship in Evansville, Illinois.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the opening minutes but the Red Devils quickly cut into their deficit behind a strong defensive showing. Allen grabbed the lead and pushed it to double digits near the end of the first half.
The Red Devils shot the ball at a 40% clip from the floor in the first half, including 42.9% from three-point land. Chris Dixon led the early charge, hitting a trio of three-point buckets.
Allen led Neosho at halftime, 32-22.
Dixon and the Devils quickly extended the lead to 17 points early in the second half. Allen made a number of scoring runs but each time Neosho was there to cut into the lead, shooting 33.3% from three in the half.
Allen was never in danger of being overthrown in the second half, scoring 41.2% of their shots from the floor. Zabriel Boozer hit three-of-eight in the half. Boozer also grabbed a team-high five rebounds and Ahmed Mahgoub scored seven in the second half.
Dixon and Mahgoub led the Allen scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Boozer grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Mahgoub had seven boards.
Lady Red Devils
Allen waited until the final minute to take a one-point victory over Neosho.
The teams traded baskets the entire game. The Lady Red Devils led at the end of the first quarter, 17-16, before Neosho took a one-point lead at halftime, 34-33. Britney Schroer led Allen early on when she scored 14 points in the first half, hitting seven-of-eight from the floor.
The difference came in the second half when Allen forced nine turnovers on Neosho in the third quarter before they scooped up four turnovers in the fourth. Shade Richardson led the Lady Red Devils with four steals.
The Lady Devils also knocked down 37.3% of their shot attempts from the floor, compared to the Panthers lowly 28.2% shooting from the hardwood. Allen shot 43.8% from the field in the first quarter, led by Schroer’s eight first quarter points.
