There were two instances during the Allen County Red Devils’ (2-2) 93-82 win over Oklahoma Wesleyan’s junior varsity squad on Wednesday where the Red Devils seemed as if they were going to run away with the game — but didn’t.
The first was at the beginning. Allen County came out of the gate strong taking a 10-point lead nearly midway through the first half. The Eagles were not deterred and hung with the Red Devils throughout the rest of the first half. At the half they had cut the lead to just five points.
Then at the start of the second half, Allen piled on the points to take a 63-42 lead with 15 minutes to play in the ball game. Just as before, Wesleyan battled back with the help of some lights-out shooting from behind the arc and cut the Red Devils’ lead to three with seven minutes to play in the game.
“We’ve just got to bring more energy for 40 minutes,” head coach Andy Shaw said. “Right now we’re not. I have to tell our guys to play hard. They need to bring the energy themselves. I’ll give (Oklahoma Wesleyan) credit, I thought they made some tough shots but we didn’t contain the ball very well and let them get to where they wanted to get. Just too many ups and downs. We’ve got to be more consistent”
While the Eagles were bombing it from outside, the Red Devils’ three-point cupboard was bare. Allen County went 0-14 from beyond the arc in an effort that left Shaw racking his brains to try and find a similar outing.
“I’ll have to go back and look but I think that may be the first time that I’ve ever had a team not make a three in a game,” Shaw said. “It’s a mental thing I think. We didn’t get a bunch of good looks and the ones we got, we didn’t make.”
Luckily for Allen County, both sides of the ball found their high gear in the final minutes of the game as they pushed the lead back to double-digits to close the game out and avoid stretching their losing skid to three straight.
Sophomore forward Jordan Marshall continues to be a force for the Red Devils, scoring 21 points and grabbing seven boards and six assists while freshman Darius Love also had a nice night with 17 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Tyler Williams was a big part of getting the team going early in the game as both a scorer and facilitator putting up 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.
While the starting lineup held up their end of the bargain, scoring 67 of the Red Devils’ 93 points, the bench struggled a great deal in both scoring and stopping the Eagles on the defensive end of the court.
“Our bench has got to do better,” Shaw said. “Both times that we went with them in the first and second half we had a big letdown and we have to have those guys come in and keep us where we’re at or better.”
Allen County doesn’t have a lot of time for tune-ups. The Red Devil conference opener is Saturday at home versus No. 13 Coffeyville.
“I told them the minute we step out on the floor tomorrow we need to have energy and enthusiasm,” Shaw said. “Yes, today was not great but we got the win and we need to move on. If we’re not mentally into it on Saturday and if we’re not playing with that energy and that fire and that pride, Coffeyville won’t be as forgiving. We’ve got to come ready to play.”
The Lady Devils will play at 2 p.m. before the men play at 4 p.m.
ALLEN COUNTY 93,
OKLAHOMA WESLEYAN 83
Individual Scoring
Allen County — Marshall 21, Love 17, A. Winston 13,
Williams 12, Clifton 11, Patterson 10, C. Winston 7, Silsby 2.
3-pointers – ACC 0.
PHOTO: Red Devil sophomore Tyler Williams takes the ball down the court in Allen County’s 93-82 win over Oklahoma Wesleyan on Wednesday. Williams had 12 points. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON.
