Neosho fends off Allen rally

A back-and-forth affair came up just short for Allen Community College Wednesday. The Red Devils fell, 70-69, at rival Neosho County.

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Sports

January 18, 2024 - 2:38 PM

Allen Community College's Grayson Ryan puts up a shot attempt Wednesday at Neosho. Photo by Richard Luken / Iola Register

CHANUTE — Allen Community College continues banging on the door for another victory.

Alas the fates — this time, in the form of rival Neosho County Community College — kept ACC’s men at bay once again.

Allen’s 70-69 loss drops the men to 8-10 on the season and 0-2 in Jayhawk Conference action, despite holding second-half leads in both conference games.

Allen threatened to spoil Neosho’s fun after making up a seven-point deficit in a little over a minute.

Allen trailed 64-57 in the waning minutes when EJ Lewis drilled a 3-pointer, followed by Dante Jackson’s steal and putback to pull ACC to within 64-62. A tie-up on Neosho’s subsequent possession gave the ball back to Allen, leading to a pair of Killian Spellman free throws to knot the score with 1:48 remaining.

Neohso’s Isaiah Howell hit 1 of 2 free throws on consecutive possessions to give the Panthers a 66-64 lead. Allen’s David Teele thought he had a 3-pointer, but the ball rimmed out. Dirk Johnson was there for the offensive rebound, but his putback attempt was blocked and Neosho took possession with 34 seconds left.

A pair of free throws from Neohso’s Shaun Holmes made it a four-point game, but Crosby sliced that deficit to one with a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining. Holmes hit two more charities to make it a 3-point lead.

The Panthers opted to foul before the Red Devils could fire up a tying 3-point attempt with less than a second left on the clock. Spellman hit both free throws with 1.4 seconds left, even though he was attempting to miss the second on purpose to give Allen a shot at an offensive putback.

Allen immediately fouled Neosho’s Aaron Doria, who left the door open a sliver when he missed both free throws with .9 seconds showing.

Spellman corralled the rebound, and came surprisingly close to what would have been a miracle of miracles as he hurled the ball from full court toward the  Allen basket. He was able to hit the backboard, but not the rim, as the buzzer sounded.

The game was hard fought throughout, with five ties and 13 lead changes.

Neither team led by more than five, with Neosho nursing a 34-29 lead at the break.

Allen opened the second half on a strong note, however, with Jackson’s 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 12:30 left pulling Allen to within 47-46. Dirk Johnson’s steal led to a Crosby layup minutes later to push ACC on top, 48-47.

The Panthers rattled off an 11-3 run before Spellman’s dunk pulled Allen back to within 61-57 with 3 minutes left, setting up the frenetic conclusion.

Crosby wound up with 19 points to lead the Red Devils, followed by Lewis with 11 and Jackson with 10. 

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