Red Devils hand No. 10 Red Ravens loss

If at first you don’t succeed. Try, try again.
Allen County Community College’s Red Devil men had allowed leads to evaporate at home. They could not win on their home court in Jayhawk Eastern Division play.
What a way to break that jinx. The Red Devils played their game and forced visiting 10th-ranked Coffeyville Community College’s Red Ravens to do the same.
The result was a stunning 85-75 victory for the Red Devils. What is even more stunning is that Coffeyville had beaten Allen County by 50 points a month ago.
“Our players deserved this. They have a guy turn and throw up a long shot just before the halftime buzzer that goes in. I thought why does everybody else have luck but us. When is it our turn,” said Anwar Perry, who learned after the game Thursday that the ACCC Board of Trustees voted to officially name him the head coach for next year.
“We didn’t need luck tonight. Our guys came out in the second half and were patient, played our game and won the game. It was a skill night.”
It was a tight first half, Perry said. Coffeyville hit a three-pointer to put it up 36-33 at halftime.
“We came out and worked to get a good shot. The guys just really stayed poised throughout the second half,” he said.
The Red Devils were up 47-43 at the 14-minute mark of the second half. With six minutes left, Allen County led Coffeyville 58-46.
Even when Kevin Broussard connected for back-to-back threes, Allen County did not panic.
The Red Devils ran their half-court offense to get good shots and hit free throws. They cashed in on 33 of 43 free throw attempts.
Jason Smith dropped in 16 of 20 charities as he led all scorers with 28 points and had 12 rebounds. The Devils had four players score in double figures, while the Ravens had only two.
What was different from the first meeting between the two teams?
“We were only down by five at halftime when we played at Coffeyville. But Coffeyville’s press smothered us,” Perry said.
Perry said he sought advice from former ACCC head coach Mike Hayes about how to handle the Red Raven press.
“I had a plan and ran it by Coach Hayes. No matter what happened on Coffeyville’s possession, I sent Jason (Smith) back toward our basket every trip. We got some easy baskets that way, plus it didn’t allow them to set their press,” Perry said.
“When they did  press us, we handled it and attacked it very well.”
Another factor Perry pointed to in the win was the performance of Terrell Shears. Shears had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
“Terrell had a monster game for us. He was 7 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 5 from three-point range.  He really stepped up his game,” Perry said.
The Red Devils were playing with just nine players Thursday. Tahshaun Kelly was gone because a death in the family.
Then Shears, Jake Benton and Thomas Daniel, Allen County’s three inside players, fouled out of the game. Keevis Tukes, who had 19 points, five assists and three steals, fouled out in the final seconds.
“We shot 77 percent from the free-throw line. That’s huge for us. We scored 52 points in the second half. We like to keep the scoring in the 60s and low 70s but tonight it was working for us at both ends of the court,” Perry said.
Allen County was up by nine points when Coffeyville head coach Jay Herkelman was assessed a second technical foul and ejected from the game. That was with 1:32 left in the contest.
The Red Devils led 76-65 when Stacy Wilson drilled a three for Coffeyville and was fouled. Wilson missed the free throw and the Red Devils got a quick basket.
Tukes and Smith tossed in free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win. Rickey Hollis scored 11 points for ACCC.
Hollis and Smith each had five assists. The Red Devils had a 36 to 23 edge in rebounding.
Allen County shot 47 percent, 23 of 49, from the field. The Red Devils were 6 of 15 from three-point range.
Coffeyville netted 8 of 31 three-point field goal attempts. The Red Ravens were 21 of 64, 33 percent, from the field and sank 25 of 40 free throw attempts.
Neil Watson paced the Ravens with 22 points. Broussard finished with 15.
The Red Devils improved to 3-10 in Jayhawk Eastern Division play and 6-18 overall. Coffeyville fell to 10-3 for a tie for second in the conference and 21-4 overall.
Allen County travels to Johnson County (7-6, 17-7) on Saturday. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. at JCCC in Overland Park.
Perry served as assistant coach to Mike Hayes for three years. He was named interim head coach in August when Hayes re-signed his basketball coaching position.
Allen County (33-52—85) (FG/3-pt): Hollis 2-7-3-11, Smith 6-16-2-28, Tukes 2/3-6-5-19, Shears 4/3-3-5-20, Daniel 1-0-5-2, Wright 1-1-1-3, Myrick 1-0-1-2, Benton 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 17/6-33-26-85.
Coffeyville (36-39—75) (FG/3-pt): Wilson 0/1-2-3-5, Broussard 1/3-4-4-15, Watson 3/3-7-5-22, Bowlin 1-5-1-7, Stevens 3-3-2-9, Cuyler 0-2-2-2, Crockett 0/1-1-1-4, Cummings 1-0-2-2, Harris 3-1-4-7, Henshall 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 13/8-25-28-75.