Tigers rip OT win from Red Devils

What do Allen County Community College’s Red Devils need to do to get a home win in Jayhawk Eastern Division play?
The Red Devils had one in their grasp Wednesday, leading Cowley County Community College’s Tigers 61-55 with 32 seconds left in regulation. They had given up a five-point halftime lead and regained it down the stretch.
Allen County led by eight with just over a minute and a half to play. But the inability to put the Tigers away from the free-throw line — 5 of 12 in that final 1:30, came back to haunt the Devils.
Leading 61-55, Allen County gave up a three-point field goal to Cowley’s James Watson with 17 seconds left. A Red Devil turnover led to two free throws by Tyrus McGee with 5.9 seconds on the  clock.
Rickey Hollis sank one of two free throws for Allen County a second later. Following a timeout, the Red Devils had the right defense set.
“Terrell (Shears) had the ball on that long pass but McGee ripped it away from him,” said Anwar Perry, ACCC head coach.
McGee, who was 12 of 12 at the line in the game, sank both charities to tie the game. In overtime the Tigers outscored the Red Devils 13-8 to win 75-70.
“Cowley is an experienced team. We have sophomores but not experienced in the Jayhawk conference,” Perry said. “We had them and couldn’t put them away.
“We shoot free throws every practice and shot them pretty well until the end tonight.”
Allen County was 24 of 35 from the free-throw line for the game. Cowley County was 25 of 35.
The Red Devils dropped to 2-7 in Jayhawk Eastern Division play and 5-15 overall. They play their third straight home game Saturday when Neosho County Community College of Chanute comes into the ACCC gym.
Cowley County, which improved to 7-2 and 16-5, rolled to a 10-2 lead. The Tigers were up 17-7 when the Red Devils went on a 12-0 run fueled by two three-point field goals by Hollis and Smith.
Thomas Daniel had a three-point play at the 3:18 mark to put ACCC up 29-26. Allen County pushed to a 35-20 halftime lead.
The Tigers wiped that out and established a 41-37 advantage by the 14:44 mark of the second half.
Back came the Red Devils to lead 48-44. Allen County was working the 35-second shot clock each time down and Keeves Tukes buried a three with one second left on the shot clock at the 6:26 mark.
Everything seemed to be going Allen County’s way. Daniel pulled a defensive rebound that led to a three by Shears. Daniel came down with another defensive rebound and was fouled. He hit one of two free throws.
Tukes hit 2 of 6 free throws in a 11-second span that saw Cowley County draw an intentional foul with 34 seconds left in regulation.
In the overtime, Cowley’s Zack Nelson scored, which was countered by two free throws by Smith for ACCC. Smith hit a trey but McGee matched it at the other end. Then it was all Tigers.
Smith had 27 points, six assists and two steals for ACCC. Daniel had 12 points and five rebounds. Hollis and Shears each had 11 points.
Shears had seven rebounds. Tukes handed out seven assists.
McGee and Watson had 19 points each for the Tigers. Kamren Belin added 14 while Romel Kemp scored 11 and Cornelius had 10.
Allen County (35-27-8 (OT)—70) (FG/3-pt): Hollis 0/2-5-3-11, Smith 6/2-9-2-27, Tukes 0/1-5-5-9-8, Kelly 0-1-3-1, Daniel 4-4-2-12, Shears 4/1-0-3-11, Benton 0-0-4-0. TOTALS: 14/6-24-22-70.
Cowley County (30-32-13 (OT)—75) (FG/3-pt): Cornelius 0/2-4-4-10, Watson 6/2-1-3-19, McGee 2/1-12-3-19, Belin 3-8-4-14, Kemp 4/1-0-4-11, Patton 0-0-2-0, Nelson 1-0-0-2, Hobbs 0-0-4-0, Wakefield 0-0-1-0, Brown 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 16/6-25-27-75.