The Allen men didnt have their top scorer when they headed into overtime Wednesday night versus Pratt but some freshman heroics and strong defense rendered all of that moot as the Red Devils marched on to an 89-84 win over the Beavers.
Allen moves to 9-1 and 1-0 in Jayhawk Conference play. The win is their sixth-straight.
Im proud of our fight and Im proud of our effort, head coach Andy Shaw said. There were a couple of times in the second half where we would get down three or five points and things wouldnt look so good but credit to our guys for pushing through and getting us back on top.
And the win came over a Pratt team that was an offensive juggernaut last season and are scorers of 80 points or more in eight out of 10 games so far this season.
Theyre going to be a very dangerous team, Shaw said. Theyre going to win some games in this conference in my opinion because they are just deadly on the offensive end. I watched three game films of them and I just had an uneasy feeling because of how well they could score.
SOPHOMORE Perry Carroll had already reached a career high when he started cramping up in the second half.
He came back in later in the half but despite nailing another of his six threes in that span, he and his 28 points couldnt carry on after Pratt hit the tying three with 18.5 seconds left. That eventually sent the game to overtime with both teams tied at 74.
Through both halves, both teams were nearly identical. Pratt went into halftime with a one-point lead and Allen scored one point more than the Beavers to make things even. The rebounding margin was within three, both teams hit the same number of field goals and the Red Devils hit just a few more free throws than Pratt thanks in part to the Beavers having to foul as the seconds ticked down in overtime.
Even-steven through all 40 minutes.
In the first half we were just trading buckets, Shaw said. In the second half we showed up better defensively but so did they. But in the end, we got enough stats to win the ball game. If you look at the stats though, its almost an identical ballgame. Its crazy. It couldve been anyones game.
Allen knew that one way or another, the final five minutes of overtime would change that.
Without Carroll to look to for leadership and points, the scoring burden fell on freshmen Trez Hankins. After hitting two threes in regulation, Hankins nailed two outside jumpers for the Red Devils early in the overtime period to get a six-point lead that Pratt would not be able to overcome.
Trez really stepped up for us and had a big game, Shaw said. Especially with Perry being out. Perry was on fire in the first half and once we got to overtime, I was a little nervous not having him out there but Trez really came through. People say that freshmen stop being freshmen after the first semester is over and it feels like hes matured nicely so far over this early part of the season.
Hankins ended the day with 16 points which were second most behind Carroll. Sophomore Darius Love had 13 and freshman Malik Hardmon had 11.
The Red Devils will try to keep their hot streak alive when they head out on the road this weekend to take on a good Garden City team, coming off of a win at Cloud County to open their conference season.
To grit one out in the first game of conference play, that really helps, Shaw said. Its a real confidence booster. Hopefully, well keep out momentum going forward. But Garden City will be tough, theyre really good and beat us three times last year.
Shaw also noted that aside from Northwest Tech who joined the conference this season, Garden City is the only Jayhawk Conference team that Allen County has yet to beat during his seven-year coaching tenure in Iola.
