CONCORDIA — The sneaker was on the other foot Wednesday.
Finally.
After losing repeated buzzer-beaters early in the season, Allen Community College’s basketball team wound up on the winning side of a nailbiter for once.
Red Devil freshman Nick Whittick banked in the game-winner with 1.8 seconds left, lifting ACC to a 72-70 victory over Cloud County Community College.
The victory put a dramatic stop to what had been a 10-game losing streak.
The game was a wild back-and-forth affair, with each team going on extended runs throughout.
Cloud had the early advantage before ACC put together a 10-2 run to lead 24-17.
Then, after the Thunderbirds clawed back within 27-26, Allen ended the half on a 10-2 run and led 36-28.
The second half was more of the same, before it looked like ACC had put things in control. Amadou Traore’s layup with 11:34 left pushed the Red Devil advantage to 56-40.
But, as happened before several times, the momentum shifted in a big way.
Cloud put together an 18-1 run over the next 5 minutes to lead 58-47.
Cloud pushed ahead by four before ACC scored seven straight to lead 70-68 with 1:53 left.
The T-Bird knotteds the score at 70-70 on a David Acosta Dunk with just over a minute left.
Both teams missed in their next possession. Traore rebounded a Cloud County miss with 16 seconds left.
The Red Devils called timeout, setting up their final possession. Whittick took advantage of a hall ball screen to put up his driving layup for the game-winner.
Cloud put up a half-court prayer, but the ball bounced off the backboard as time expired.
Ed Wright II paced the Red Devil attack with 15 points, followed close behind by Freddie Word with 14. Traore added 12 points and 13 rebounds. Whittick also dished out a team-high four assists and had five steals.
