With a wire-thin bench, Allen Community College had another rough second half Saturday.
The Red Devils took a 39-31 lead into intermission against Neosho County, only for the Panthers to take the lead for good with a 9-2 run midway through the second period to lead, 58-51.
Allen fought back valiantly, closing to within 74-51 in the last 30 seconds, but Neosho had 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to secure a 79-74 victory.
Allen (10-15) is at Johnson County Wednesday.
Randy Crosby had the hot shooting hand early for the Red Devils, hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers before halftime. His back-to-back treys turned a 26-26 deadlock to a six-point Allen lead late in the first half. EJ Lewis followed with a 3-pointer to make it 35-26.
But the Panthers began to get to the line more effectively as they seized momentum.
After hitting 2 of 4 charities in the first 20 minutes, Neosho hit 15 of 21 after the break.
Four Allen players scored in double figures, but with only one bench player available because of injury or illness, the Red Devils received 0 bench points.
Crosby led the way with 24 points, followed by Danta Jackson with 17, David Teele with 16 and Lewis with 12.
Crosby dished out five assists to go with eight rebounds.
Peter Obeng scored 18 to lead Neosho.
FG/3pt FT F TP
Neosho (31-48—79)
Jones 2/2 0 5 10
Holmes 4 7 2 15
Obeng 7 4 4 18
Doria 1/4 1 3 15
Howell 5 5 3 15
Hislop 0/2 0 2 6
Govan 0 0 1 0
Totals 19/8 17 21 79
Allen (39-35—74)
Lewis 2/1 5 4 12
Crosby 1/4 10 5 24
Hill 1/1 0 3 5
Teele 5/1 3 3 16
Jackson 2/4 1 4 17
Tarango 0 0 2 0
Totals 11/11 19 19 74
