No starter-spark dooms Red Devils

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Sports

December 6, 2010 - 12:00 AM

Maybe head coach Anwar Perry needs to be unhappy with his players before the start of a game. Perry said he’s willing to try anything to get the Allen County Community College Red Devils to start a game as well as they play in second halves of games.
“We won the second half — again — but lose the game,” Perry said after the Red Devil men lost 73-62 at home Saturday to Highland Community College’s Scotties.
When suggested he make his halftime speech to his team before the game, Perry said, “The thing is I don’t say much at all to them because I’m mad. They know it. Then we come out and play better. I don’t know what to do before game time. No matter what I say or do to motivate them it hasn’t worked yet.”
Allen County trailed 40-22 at halftime then outscored Highland 40-33 in the second half. It has become a trend for the Red Devils in their first 10 ball games of the season. They are 2-8 overall and fall to 0-2 in Jayhawk Eastern Division play.
Last week, Allen County was notified by Penn Valley Community College that it used an ineligible player in the team’s first game, Nov. 2 at Penn Valley. Penn Valley won the game but has now had to forfeit the game so Allen County has two wins this year.
“We’re not coming out with any energy,” Perry said of his team to open games. “We’re putting ourselves in a hole that we have to expend so much energy to come back from in the second half.”
Highland pushed out to a 6-0 lead and was up 15-5 by the 15:24 mark when Perry called a timeout. Allen County responded with a putback bucket by Thomas Daniel then a free throw by Daniel. Jason Smith’s two free throws made it 16-11 with 12:36 to play.
But the Scotties had a four-point possession their next trip down the court. Philip Henry scored and was fouled. Henry’s free throw attempt was off but there for a follow shot was Taylor Olson. That set off  24-11 run by the Scotties over the final 11 minutes of the first half.
Keevis Tukes, who led all scorers in the game with 20 points, and Daniel had the first two baskets of the second half. With a bucket by Smith at the 17:47 mark, Allen County was down 44-28.
Jarmar Gulley had back-to-back baskets for the Scotties pushing their lead back to 20 points. Down 50-29, Tahshaun Kelly touched off an 11-0 run by the Red Devils. Kelly had a conventional three-point play followed by a basket from Rickey Hollis.
Tukes drilled consecutive three-pointers to cut the margin to 10, 50-40, with 14:10 left. The Red Devils never got any closer as the Scotties were able to protect their lead again, taking a 65-49 advantage.
Tukes connected again from outside the arc and Terrell Shears scored for ACCC. Daniel was fouled on a defensive rebound and hit the front end of a one-and-one. The gap was narrowed back to 10, 65-55, with 2:37 left to play.
The Scotties hit 6 of 8 free throw attempts in the final minute to stave off the Red Devils. Highland cashed in 20 of 37 attempts at the line for the game and shot 37.5 percent, 24 of 64, from the field.
Allen County went 19 of 50, 38 percent, from the field and 19 of 28 at the free-throw line. The Scotties outrebounded the Red Devils 48 to 33.
Jason Smith was 7 of 10 at the line as he scored 13 points for ACCC plus dished out five assists. Kelly finished with 11 points, six rebounds, three steals and six assists.
DeAndre Upchurch scored 19 points for the Scotties and Antonio Walker added 15.
Allen County goes to Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Okla., Tuesday. The Red Devils conclude pre-Christmas play at a Hutchinson Community College tournament Friday and Saturday.
Allen County (22-40—62) (FG/3-pt): Smith 3-7-4-13, Tukes 3/4-2-1-20, Kelly 2/1-4-3-11, Shears 1-1-2-3, Daniel 3-3-4-9, Wright 0-1-0-1, Hollis 1-0-5-2, Rourk 1-0-1-2, Benton 0-1-0-1, Myrick 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 14/5-19-22-62.
Highland (40-33—73) (FG/3-pt): Donahoe 3-2-3-8, Gulley 4-0-4-8, Upchurch 2/2-9-2-19, Walker 5/1-2-3-15, Davis 0/1-1-1-4, Mitchell 1-0-0-2, Camphor 1/1-4-3-9, Mayer 0-0-2-0, Henry 2-2-2-6, Birtell 0-0-1-0, Olson 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 19/5-20-22-73.

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