There were 16 three-point field goals in the game. But it was a conventional three-point play that gave the upper hand to Allen County Community College’s Red Devils in the final two minutes of Tuesday’s home game.
Pratt Community College’s Beavers found it is true that it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season. The Red Devils and Beavers played for the third time in 22 days, with Pratt winning at home and in overtime on a neutral court earlier this month.
Canon Fields’ basket and free throw at the 2:28 mark of the second half put Allen County up 60-58. Defense and rebounding along with free-throw shooting by Fields — 6 of 6 — kept the Red Devils in front for a 66-63 win.
Pratt’s Trae Beck fired in his fourth three-pointer of the night with nine seconds left to make it 64-63. Fields hit two more free throws and the Red Devils denied the Beavers a good look at a tying three at the end.
“The difference tonight is we rebounded better. After the Red Devil Classic we went back to fundamentals in practice,” said Anwar Perry, second-year head coach.
“The last time we played Pratt they had 10 offensive rebounds and we limited them to just five offensive rebounds tonight.”
Perry pointed out that Pratt had 40 rebounds in the overtime win at Chanute on Nov. 5. On Monday, Allen County and Pratt each had 23 rebounds.
The Red Devils cashed in on 26 of 36 free throw attempts for 72 percent. Pratt was only 9 of 19 at the line. Allen County shot at a 49-percent clip (17 of 35) from the field to Pratt’s 48 percent (22 of 46).
Pratt pulled out to a 6-0 lead and was up 32-16 with four minutes left in the first half. Tyrone Jones went on a scoring tear for Allen County. Jones fired in 10 straight points, including two threes to ignite the Red Devils.
Allen County’s defense fed off the surge and came up with the basketball at the end of the half. Fields scored with 4.6 seconds on the clock to draw Allen County to within four, 32-28, at intermission.
“Tyrone hit those two big threes that helped us get the momentum going into halftime. We weren’t getting a lot out of the offense in the first half,” Perry said.
It was a see-saw second half. Pratt led 48-41 with 10 minutes remaining. Terrell Shears had a basket and a three-pointer for ACCC to bring it back to two points. Drelan Tripplet converted on a turnaround jumper on the base line to tie the game 50-50 at the 6:44 mark.
Terrence Williams hit a three and Fields, who was 13 of 14 at the free-throw line, downed two charities to put ACCC up 55-53. Pratt had a 5-2 run to regain a 58-57 lead, then Fields’ three-point play set up the final 2:28.
Jones led all scorers with 19 points but also had two big blocked shots in the second half. Jones was 7 of 10 from the free-throw line.
Fields finished with 15 points, seven assists and two steals. Shears had 12 points and six rebounds. Tripplet had five rebounds.
“We do have to be smarter with the basketball. We had 17 turnovers and we didn’t make good decisions with the lead and the basketball,” Perry said.
Beck fired in 16 points and John Rutherford, who also had four threes, ended up with 14 points. Bryton Hobbs added 12 points for Pratt and Tayler Rock had 11 points.
Allen County improved to 3-4 on the season. The Red Devils don’t play again until Dec. 3 at Hesston.
Allen County (28-38—66) (FG/3-pt): Jones 3/2-7-1-19, Fields 1-13-0-15, Shears 1/3-1-5-12, Tripplet 3-0-3-6, Romeus 1-3-0-5, Williams 1/1-0-0-5, Hollis 1-2-2-4, Daniel 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 11/6-26-13-66.
Pratt (32-31—63) (FG/3-pt): Beck 0/4-4-4-16, Rutherford 1/4-0-3-14, Hobbs 3/1-3-5-12, Rock 5-1-3-11, May 2-0-1-4, Craig 1-1-2-3, Brown 0/1-0-0-3-3, Sponsel 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 12/10-9-24-63.
Red Devil men hold off Pratt at home
