Heartbreak would have to be the appropriate term from the Red Devils’ loss to Labette Community College Saturday.
“Another tough one for us,” head coach Andy Shaw said, following the game.
ACC dropped a half-time lead to eventually fall in the final seconds, 80-78, to the Cardinals. Shaw noted that their first meeting had the Red Devils come back from down seven in the waning minutes to win by three in a close contest.
“It’s going to be close,” he said, prior to the game.
He was right.
Neither team led by more than 10, with the majority of the game showcasing small leads from both teams. There were 10 lead changes.
The Cardinals were up by eight with over 12 minutes remaining in the game. Courtney Stockard had something to say about it, however, as he hit back-to-back jumpers, capped then by a trey to bring the Red Devils to within one. Another trey from Stockard would give ACC the lead, 61-59, with eight minutes left.
The game carried on at a break-neck pace from that point forward. Any time ACC tried to push the lead past four points, Labette would rush back to either tie or take a small advantage.
Stedman Allen hit a jumper with 36 seconds remaining to put the Cardinals up 77-75. Tray Fountain drove inside on the following possession and hit the shot after being fouled — he hit the charity to put the Devils up one.
“We competed hard, we had some guys step up and make big plays,” Shaw said.
Labette’s Allen came up big on the following possession with a jumper from outside, putting the Cardinals up by one. Fountain received the inbound on the final possession, driving inside. His shot bounced off the backboard and rolled over the front of the rim, as he fell to the court. The shot didn’t go in, and the foul was not called — much to the dismay of Shaw and the ACC bench. Stedman Allen came down with the rebound and was fouled by the Red Devils. He hit one for two on the foul shots to put the lead out the Red Devils’ reach.
Coach Shaw declined to comment on the no-foul call on Fountain’s layup, only to say that it was a close call that didn’t go in their favor.
“I’ve watched it (on film), it’s a bang-bang play, it could’ve gone either way.”
Although, Shaw wasn’t about to blame the loss on one play at the end.
“Our defense let us down in the second half,” he said of the matchup. “We let them score 49 points, it’s tough to win when you do that.”
ACC hit nearly 48 percent from the field, and went 42 percent from 3-point range. The Devils connected on seven for 12 from the foul line. The Cardinals hit 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. They went 14 for 21 from the foul line.
Stockard led the Red Devils with 21 points, followed by Josh Sweet with 14 and Cody Sluder and Tyrone Jones with 10 apiece. Stedman Allen led the Cardinals with 17, Anthony Elechi had 16.
The loss drops ACC to 4-7 in conference play, and 7-16 overall on the season.
The Red Devils had hopes to garner a home-playoff berth with a win Saturday. The loss, however, removes any hope of that fact. Shaw had some positive comments on his team leaders for sophomore night, nonetheless.
“I appreciate all of the hard work,” he said of his sophomores. “They’ve stuck with me for two years, trying to rebuild this program.”
Labette 31-49—80
ACC 38-40—78
Labette (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Harrison 3/2-0-4-12, Luerman 1/2-4-1-12, Allen 7-3-1-17, Williams 0-1-1-1, Smith 0/2-2-2-8, Charleston 3-1-3-7, Elechi 7-2-1-16, Johnson 3-1-4-7. TOTALS: 24/6-14-17-80.
ACC (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 4-0-3-8, Wesley 0-0-1-0, Fountain 4-1-2-9, Sluder 2/2-0-4-10, Stockard 5/3-2-1-21, Sweet 1/4-0-1-14, Keiswetter 1-0-1-2, Jones 4-2-2-10, Watson 0-0-1-0, Tyner 1-2-3-4. TOTALS: 22/9-7-19-78.
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