It was ugly.
It was painful.
It was a win.
Allen Community College’s men came back from a seven-point deficit in the second half, hitting several key free throws down the stretch to secure a 76-72 victory over visiting Seward County.
“That was a Jayhawk Conference game right there,” Allen head coach Andy Shaw said. “It was ugly at times. A lot of the time it was ugly, but we found a way to win.”
Several key factors contributed to the win, perhaps none more so than ACC sophomore Cedric Rollerson, who was brilliant after a slow start.
It was Rollerson who hit a twisting, half-court buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut Seward’s halftime lead to 32-31.
It was Rollerson who hit Allen’s first jump shot in the second half, a 3-pointer that knotted the score at 64 apiece with about 3 minutes remaining.
And it was Rollerson who went 16 of 16 from the line — 14-for-14 in the second half — on his way to a game-high 27 points.
This despite colliding with a Saint player with 2½ minutes remaining during a key sequence in which Allen trailed 66-64.
Rollerson found teammate Amadou “Shaq” Traore for what most thought was a game-tying dunk. Instead the refs simultaneously whistled Seward’s Ahamadou Sillah for the foul after he collided with Rollerson, negating the basket.
Rollerson hobbled to the line and calmly swished both charities to tie the score again.
Then the fun really began for the Red Devil faithful (most of whom had to watch from home, of course.)
Allen’s Ed Wright gathered a missed Seward shot that would have broken the deadlock with about 90 seconds left.
Instead, the Red Devils did some nifty ball movement that left Traore free for a thunderous baseline dunk to give ACC a 68-66 advantage. He followed that up with a rebound from a missed 3-pointer from Seward’s Samuel Henderson with just over a minute remaining.
Tyren Shelley turned ACC’s three-point lead to a five-point margin with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 51 seconds remaining, 71-66.
“With a two-point lead, I wasn’t too sure about the shot,” Shaw admitted — until it connected.
“It was a big shot,” Shaw said. “That’s what he’s here to do — shoot the basketball.”
Rollerson’s free throws with 40 seconds on the clock put ACC at 73-68. And things were looking even more promising when Seward’s Erik Pratt missed both free throws the next time down the court.
