HUTCHINSON — A decided height and athleticism advantage provided Hutchinson Community College with several extra scoring opportunities Thursday, too many for visiting Allen Community College to keep up.
The short-handed Red Devils were even with Hutchinson for much of the first half before the Blue Dragons closed the half with an 18-4 run to lead 41-26.
Allen closed to within 12 in the second half on a 3-pointer by Cameron Blue at the 7:51 mark, but could get no closer in an 85-63 loss.
The defeat came in the Red Devils’ season-opener. Allen (0-1) is in Trenton, Mo., this afternoon at 4 o’clock to take on North Central Missouri.
“Hutch is just a good team,” Red Devil head coach Andy Shaw said. “We played well in spurts, but it seemed like every shot they took from the perimeter turned into an offensive rebound and an easy layup for them.”
The Blue Dragons held a commanding 54-36 rebound advantage.
Allen also was short-handed, playing without the services of sophomore DeAndrae Barnette, who injured a hand in practice this week. Shaw hopes Barnette can play today.
“He just jammed it, and we didn’t want to make it worse by having him play too soon,” Shaw said.
With a roster full of newcomers, most of the fireworks came from Blue, who scored 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting attemps from the field. He also had 14 rebounds to lead the Red Devils.
“Cameron came up big for us,” Shaw said. “It was good to see him do so well in his first game out.”
Bryce Schippers followed with 11 points, the only other Allen player in double figures. Ben Uno scored nine points. Alex Keiswetter had five rebounds and two assists. Blue also had two steals.
Of local interest, Iola native Clint Heffern drained a 3-pointer in his only field goal attempt and dished out an assist. Seth Walden, meanwhile, scored eight points with a rebound, two assists and a block. Paul Stockebrand of Yates Center also had a block.
Alex Davis led Hutchinson with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Allen (26-37—63)
Hutchinson (41-44—85)
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Heffern 0/1-0-0-3, Burnes 1-4-0-6, Roberts 1-1-3-3, Fountain 0/2-0-1-6, Schippers 1/2-3-2-11, Uno 3-3-3-9, Keiswetter 0-0-4-0, Blue 7/1-2-3-19, Walden 0/2-0-2-6. Rountree 0-0-4-0, Walter 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 13/8-13-23-63
Hutchinson — Campbell 5-2-2-12, Davis 6-2-1-14, Taylor 2-0-1-4, Pyle 1/1-1-1-6, Allen 3-7-2-13, Spencer 6-0-3-12, Whittingham 5-1-3-11, Jackson 1-1-1-3, Henley 2-2-1-4, Nunn 2-0-4-4. TOTALS: 33/1-16-18-85.
Allen men come up short at Hutch
