It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, but Allen Community College head coach Andy Shaw wasn’t complaining after the Red Devils wrapped up pre-conference play with a 72-60 win over visiting Kansas City, Kan., Saturday.
“We’ll take it,” he said. “This was a good win for us, because we’d lost two out of our last three, and we have a tough stretch to start conference.”
Allen took control with a 16-4 run to end the first half, thanks to some ferocious defensive intensity, nifty passing and timely shooting. Alex Miller ended the run with a driving basket and two free throws in the final minute as Allen took a 31-22 lead into halftime.
The lead ballooned to 17 on Miller’s steal and layup four minutes into the second half before the Blue Devils answered with a 17-3 run to cut Allen’s lead to 42-38.
Josh Sweet and Miller responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 10. Miller hit a pair of free throws a minute later to put ACC on top 50-39. The advantage never dipped below double digits again.
It took a while in the early going for the Red Devils to find any offensive traction. Shaw called timeout twice in the first 15 minutes as KCK plowed ahead, 20-15.
“We may have been a little too energetic,” Shaw said. “But the ball just started sticking in our hands. We weren’t passing as quickly as we needed to, and it threw off our rhythm.
“But we started attacking the rim much better, and our defense created some scoring opportunities.”
Courtney Stockard’s 3-pointer gave Allen a 21-20 lead with 4:03 left in the half. Sweet followed with another trey to push the lead to four before Ben Uno had a traditional three-point play to push the lead to 27-22.
Miller led the way for Allen with 22 points — his second straight game with that many — to go with two steals.
Raheem Tyner had his second straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, including five offensive boards that led to several second-chance points down the stretch. Uno chipped in with 11 points. Sweet and Tray Fountain both had four assists. Sweet also had two steals.
The Red Devils held a commanding 48 to 31 advantage on the boards.
Clay Young and Lucas Smith both had 15 points for KCK. Collin Adney added 12.
The Red Devils (11-6) open Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play Wednesday at Coffeyville.
KCK (22-38—60)
Allen (31-41—72)
