Allen’s men’s basketball is enjoying a winning streak. Over the weekend, Allen swept a road trip to Beatrice, Neb., Allen topped host Southeast Community College 74-71 on Friday. On Saturday, the Red Devils defeated 15th-ranked Central Community College of Columbus, Neb. 67-66.
The sweep is more impressive when you consider that Allen was missing a handful of players due to illness.
Allen got off to a hot start against Southeast, as has been the case in most of the Red Devils wins this season. Allen dominated the first half and was able to fend off a flurry of runs by Southeast. At halftime, the Red Devils led 40-32.
The two teams went back and forth for the first portion of the second half, trading baskets, with the Allen lead hovering around eight points. Southeast put together a charge, led by timely shots from the corners, and took advantage of trips to the free-throw line to negate the Allen lead and take a five-point lead of its own.
A timeout and pep talk from Allen head coach Andy Shaw seemed to turn things around for the Red Devils and they went on a run, fueled by sharp three-point shooting by Tanner Meyer. The Red Devils used Meyer’s sharpshooting to pull back out in front.
Despite Allen running out to a six-point lead, Southeast was not done and started making three-pointers to stay close to Allen.
The game came down to the final seconds.
Allen was leading when Southeast shot a three-pointer. Though the ball missed, Southeast got the rebound with one final shot to send the game to overtime. That shot missed and the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Cedric Rollerson and Ed Wright both scored 18 points each. Scottie Turner scored 12 points and had eight rebounds in his return to the lineup. Chris Dixon shot 2-4 from the three-point line and scored eight points.
Allen found itself in a tight game again on Saturday.
The Red Devils jumped out to a lead against Central, thanks to a plethora of three-pointers by Ed Wright. That lead wouldn’t stick though. Central was able to go on a huge run of its own, with its three-point shooters waking up. Allen trailed 36-32 at halftime.
Coming out of the half, Allen was on fire and tied the game within the first two minutes of the half. The two teams swapped the lead from there, with neither team establishing a commanding lead. That all changed when Central started to go on a big run towards the middle of the half thanks to good offensive rebounding and the ability to take advantage of second-chance shots. The run allowed Central to open up an eight-point lead, with six minutes left.
Allen was able to keep pace with Central, and with less than 20 seconds left, Allen trailed by a point.
