The Allen Community College men and women’s basketball teams held on late to down Fort Scott Community College at home Wednesday night.
The Red Devils (21-7) survived the Greyhounds knotting the game up multiple times in the second half before pulling away for a 75-65 victory. Allen is in first place in the Jayhawk conference with two regular season games remaining.
The Lady Red Devils (17-10) played a much more dominant second half and forced 33 turnovers on Fort Scott to secure a 76-64 win.
Red Devils
It was a chippy game from start to finish between Allen and Fort Scott with what seemed to be countless fouls. The Red Devils were saved by second-chance points, out-rebounding the Greyhounds, 56-36, and grabbing an impressive 31 offensive boards.
“While we struggled with turning the ball over, we dominated the glass,” said Allen head coach Andy Shaw. “Offensive rebounds gave us more opportunities. It was one of those hard fought games late in the year with both teams vying for a conference title.”
The Red Devils made some crucial defensive stops in the first half. Ahmed Mahgoub led with four steals. Some hot three-point shooting, 38.5% from beyond the arc, allowed Allen to extend their lead to double figures.
Brycen Dean and Tanner Meyer were good from distance in shooting and helped Allen take a 10-point lead more than halfway through the first half. Fort Scott wouldn’t back down though and cut the Allen lead down to six points at halftime, 32-26.
Allen was able to hold some of Fort Scott’s leading scorers in check including Clance Crosby scoring 10 points which is 3.6 points less than his average. Andre Norris also only scored five points, 6.6 points fewer than his average. The Greyhounds still had four in double figures.
Fort Scott quickly knotted the game at 44-44 a few minutes into the second half. Each time the Greyhounds tied the game Allen went on a scoring run of their own, including a 5-0 run after being tied at 44-44. Nick Whittick sank a big three to extend the Allen lead to nine.
The Red Devils hurt themselves when they turned the ball over on four straight possessions in the final 10 minutes and made it a four-point Allen lead with a minute left. Fort Scott then began to foul Allen’s shooters and the Red Devils came up with the 10-point win.
“We were a bit uncharacteristic there at the end,” Shaw said. “A bunch of missed free throws, it felt like seven or eight turnovers in the final two minutes to keep the door open for Fort Scott. I give them credit for playing the entire 40 minutes, keeping it interesting at the end.”
Meyer led Allen’s scoring with 21 points, followed by Mahgoub and Whittick’s 13 points apiece. Chris Dixon also netted 11 points. Meyer finished three-of-seven from beyond the three-point arc. Mahgoub had a team-high 17 rebounds.
Lady Red Devils
Similar to their game against Highland last week, it took the Lady Devils until the second half to come alive. Allen held the Greyhounds to 15.2% shooting from the field in the second half and forced 33 turnovers.
“We were able to capitalize on the forced turnovers more in the second half,” said Allen head coach Leslie Crane. “We’re constantly working on it. I sound like a broken record, but we’ve got to do a better job of playing two halves. We didn’t play well in the first half but we came out and did what we needed to do in the second half.”
Fort Scott couldn’t seem to miss in the first half. The Greyhounds shot 61.1% from the floor and a monstrous 60% from three-point distance in the opening half.
Still, Allen stayed in the game. Britney Schroer and Khassidy Warr worked the front court well and banked in a number of layups.
