It wasn’t always pretty, but Allen Community College’s Red Devils did just enough to keep Wichita’s Friends University junior varsity squad at arm’s length Monday.
Five Red Devils reached double figures, led by Malachi Schilreff’s 19 points as Allen improved to 3-6 with a 96-81 victory.
Allen twice opened up 18-point leads in the second half, but the Friends’ pressure defense created just enough chaos to keep things interesting until the final minutes.
The Falcos’ Ian Russell hit a free throw with about 4 minutes remaining to pare Allen’s margin to nine points. A Santiago Vargas drive a minute later cut the deficit to 83-75.
Allen’s Henri Ray-Young hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 11, but steals on consecutive possessions after that led to a pair of Friends layups, pulling Friends to within 87-80.
Ray-Young responded with his second long-range bomb of the stretch to pull the lead back out to 10. Dirk Johnson followed with a bucket, Schilreff added a pair of free throws, and Ray-Young capped things with a vicious putback slam to cap the scoring.
Schilreff narrowly missed a triple-double, adding nine rebounds and nine assists to his 19 points. He also led the team with six steals.
Johnson was 7 of 10 from the field as part of his 18-point, nine-rebound night. Tymell Sullivan added 15 points and 10 boards. Ray-Young scored 15 points with five rebounds. Mike Smith scored 10 off the bench, while Javontae Costner chipped in with four steals and five boards.
Russell and Vargas led Friends with 22 and 20 points, respectively.
The Red Devils have another busy week ahead after Thanksgiving, with home games on consecutive nights against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid on Tuesday and North Central Missouri College on Wednesday.
Friends (39-42—81)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Allen 0 1 2 1
Babe 1/3 0 5 11
Russell 5/1 9 2 22
