Head coach Andy Shaws expressions showed his frustration in the final minutes of Allen Community Colleges matchup against Kansas City Kansas CC. Costly turnovers in the final minutes shrunk the Red Devil lead, but ACC held on to win 76-68 on Tuesday night.
Im proud of the effort and the way we played, Shaw said. I wish the ending would have been a little bit cleaner. I dont know how many turnovers we had in the final minutes, but it felt like we had half of them happen then.
Both sides traded buckets in the first half before the Red Devils were able to push ahead 35-26 heading into halftime. ACC controlled the second half, stretching its lead to 13 points before KCKCC began to chip away, and bring the score within six with less than three minutes to play.
Shaw was not afraid to burn through his timeouts in the closing stages of the game, making sure his Red Devils would not squander the lead in the games closing stages.
I tried to learn from our last few games where we did blow those late leads, Shaw said. I didnt care if I did have to blow through all of those timeouts, I wanted to keep the lead, and make sure I did correct whatever was happening. I tried to do that, and wish I would have had a few more in the final two minutes.
ACCs zone defense was designed to slow down 6-6 forward Sevon Witt. Witt was averaging 25 points per game and 12 rebounds, but was reduced to 12 points and three rebounds in his matchup against ACC.
Our zone defense was effective against then in the first half. In the second half, it was not bad, but not quite as good as we struggled to rebound, Shaw said. Our game plan was to try to eliminate them in the paint, because they are good when they are getting rebounds, or in transition.
Joel Boyce, an NCAA Division I transfer, led the Red Devils, finishing 6/14 from the field for 22 points, including a near perfect 10/11 from the charity stripe. Malik Hardon earned a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Cannan Daniels finished as the Red Devils third-leading scorer with 11 points, shooting 3 /5 from long range.
With the win, ACC moves to 2-4 on the season. The Red Devils have room to improve with their ball security before they travel to Fort Scott on Friday to play Louisiana Christian Prep.
ACC Women
The Lady Devils traveled south to play sixth-ranked Labette Community College on Tuesday evening. Despite the challenge, ACC competed with Labette for all four quarters . Five lead changes, and two ties occurred in the first quarter of this tightly contested matchup. ACC was unable to get control of the game in the second quarter, and were unable to match Labettes presence on the glass as they trailed 38-30 at the half.
Courtney Crippen kept the Lady Devils in the contest with her 18 points, including key three-point plays in the second half. ACC trailed by four points throughout the fourth quarter as the two sides traded baskets, but were unable to get over the hump, losing 74-64. Zariah Sango finished as ACCs second-leading scorer with 13 points, and Taryn Kelley along with Gabby Guzman finished with 10 points a piece.