Playing defense for a full 40-minute game has been a problem for Allen County Community College Red Devil men. That is why the Red Devils are 0-4 in the young 2010-2011 season.
On Friday, the Red Devils led much of their game against Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa “until the last four minutes and we didn’t play very well defensively. They hit big shots,” said Anwar Perry, ACCC head coach.
Then on Saturday in the second round of Allen County Community College’s Citizens Bank Classic, the Red Devils again had bouts of not playing defense, letting Butler Community College’s Grizzlies grab a 16-point lead by the 10-minute mark of the second half.
Allen County wasn’t able to get within 12 points, losing 71-58. Northern Oklahoma toppled the Red Devils 63-57 on Friday.
“It’s something we’ve battled all season. We’re not playing well defensively in spurts and allowing teams to get the lead on us,” Perry said. “We’re not in sync offensively.
“We’re not playing together and that’s my fault. It’s my job to find five guys who can play together on the court.”
In both losses, the Red Devils put their opponents on the free-throw line more than double the times they were at the line. Northern Oklahoma stayed in the game on Friday by hitting 20 of 27 free throw attempts.
Allen County led 28-24 at halftime Friday. The Red Devils fired in 24 of 52 from the field for 46 percent while NOC was 19 of 51 for 37 percent.
But the Red Devils only hit 6 of 8 free throw attempts. Down the stretch, NOC hit big shots and Allen County didn’t.
Jason Smith fired in 23 points and had seven assists for the Red Devils in Friday’s game. Terrell Shears added 10 points. Thomas Daniel had five of the team’s 28 rebounds.
Darrell Traylor and Elhad Emerllahu each had 11 points for NOC.
Allen County tried to regroup on Saturday against Butler. Smith and Shears led the Red Devils to a 6-4 lead then Butler rattled off 12 unanswered points.
Down 19-14, Keevis Tukes and Shears hit back-to-back threes for the Red Devils. Shears scored to put ACCC up 22-19 with 5:43 left.
A three-point play by Smith with 25 seconds left in the first half tied the game a 28-28. Cadrick Bloomquist sank two free throws putting Butler up 30-28 at halftime.
The Grizzlies never trailed again. They were up 48-32 at the 10-minute mark of the second half.
A mini-run by the Red Devils put eight straight points on the board to make it 62-48 with three minutes left. Butler, which was 32 of 40 from the line for the game, hit 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
“I benched the starters and played reserves in the second half. Yes, Butler scored on them but those guys on the floor for us were playing pretty well as a team. If that’s what it’s going to take, benching them to get them to play, I’ll do it,” Perry said.
Smith and Tukes each had 19 points. Allen County downed 10 of 19 free throw attempts. The Red Devils shot 40 percent, 21 o 52, from the field.
Josh Gibbs led the Grizzlies with 15 points. Andre Ingram had 13 and Bloomquist added 12 points.
The Red Devils host Penn Valley at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Allen County (28-29—57) (FG/3-pt): Smith 9/1-2-2-23, Tukes 4-0-2-8, Shears 3/1-1-4-10, Daniel 3-0-4-6, Hollis 0/1-0-1-3, Kelly 1-2-5-4, O’Neal 0-1-0-1, Benton 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 21/3-6-20-57.
NOC-Tonkawa (24-39—63) (FG/3-pt): Grant 0-4-0-4, Traylor 1/2-3-1-11 Walker 1-0-0-2, Lampkin 1-43-6, Whitely 2-0-2-4, Moore 1/2-0-2-8, Godwin 3-3-2-9, Emerllahu 2/1-4-0-11, Hooks 3-2-1-8, McDonald 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 14/5-20-12-63.
Allen County (28-30—58) (FG/3-pt): Hollis 0-0-2-0, Smith 6/1-4-2-19, Tukes 4/3-2-2-19, Kelly 0-0-4-0, Shears 2/1-2-3-9, Myrick 0/1-1-0-4, O’Neal 0-0-2-0, Benton 1-1-4-3, Daniel 2-0-4-4. TOTALS: 15/6-10-24-58.
Butler (30-41—71) (FG/3-pt): Brandon Hilyard 1-4-3-6, Lindhorst 2-0-5-4, Ingram 5-3-4-13, Gibbs 5/1-2-1-15, Bezdeck 1-1-2-3, Campbell 1-6-2-8, Victoria 0-2-0-2, Bloomquist 2-8-0-12, Adams 1-3-1-5, Bargen 0-1-2-1, Semisch 0-2-0-2. TOTALS: 18/1-32-20-71.
Red Devil men lose twice in Classic
