The 14th ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons proved to be too much for the Allen men in their first game back from winter break on Saturday.
The Blue Dragons powered their way to a 102-86 win, dropping the Red Devils to 11-4 overall and an even 3-3 in conference play.
WIth 9:01 to play in the first half, the Red Devils were riding high and leading 23-18 in a back-and-forth game versus a Hutch team that vastly outsized the Red Devils.
The game had been rough and physical up until that point. Bodies flew and hit the ground hard with every foul and every player that dropped to the floor seemed to hit it with their full weight.
Allens five-point lead disappeared in the following minutes as the Blue Dragons scored 12 straight over the span of around five and a half minutes to boost their lead to 7. Before the half ended, that lead increased to 11.
They called timeout after we were clicking and then it had to be five or six minutes there where we didnt score, head coach Andy Shaw said. With their length, we just couldnt get anything at the rim. And then I think we just got stagnant on offense and we didnt have the pace that we needed to have to create open shots.
The Red Devils trailed by nine, 61-52, at 14:36 in the second half.
Offense started to pick up for Allen down the stretch. Even though four Red Devils ended the day with 15 or more points, it wasnt enough to keep pace or overtake the stunning offensive display from the Blue Dragons who shot 60 percent throughout the game including 67.7 percent in the second half compared to just a 35.3 game percentage for the Red Devils.
Im sure it wasnt a fun one to watch in the stands, Shaw said. We couldnt get a stop. They shot 60 percent which has got to be the highest field goal percentage weve ever given up. You dont beat anybody giving up 60 percent.
Six of the 10 Hutch players scored in double-digits despite the fact that they only made four threes opposed to the 10 for Allen.
Im proud that we didnt fold and get beat by 40, Shaw said. In games like these, that can easily happen. Everyone on the floor kept fighting and that helped keep it interesting but in the end, weve got to be better than we were today.
Several times in the final 10 minutes, the Red Devils scrapped the lead down to 10 but no further as Hutch always came ready with a response.
By the end of the game, what ended up being the most impressive for Allen was their rebounding performance versus the taller Blue Dragons. Hutchinson outrebounded Allen by just four, 42-38. Twenty-one of those 38 rebounds were on the offensive end.
Thats part of the effort and fight that we had to not quit, Shaw said. We were competitive rebounding the ball and thats because we really crashed the offensive glass.
Freshman Malik Hardmon had 20 points followed by 18 for sophomore Perry Carroll, 17 for sophomore Darius Love and 16 for freshman Trez Hankins. Sophomore Wesley Anderson Jr. had seven, sophomore Jamaal Clifton had five and freshman CJ Parks had three.
Allen will host Northwest Kansas Technical College on Wednesday before hitting the road for the first time in 2019 to take on Barton.
