by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College trailed Fort Scott for less than a second in NJCAA Region VI playoffs Saturday but it came at the worst possible time.
Dejaun Sherman’s 3-point launched at the final buzzer gave the Greyhounds a 60-59 win and ended the Blue Devils’ season in the most heartbreaking manner.
“Very disappointing to lose at the buzzer,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “Our kids played hard and left everything on the floor. Our hats are off to Fort Scott.”
Three times in the final three minutes Fort Scott pulled even with the Blue Devils but each time KCKCC responded with a go-ahead basket – two by Jon Murray and one by Mike Lee that gave the Blue Devils a 59-57 lead with 2.8 seconds left, just enough time for the Greyhounds to get the ball to Sherman just beyond the free throw circle for the game-winner.
“It left his hand by this much,” said one official indicating about a foot.
The Blue Devils built leads of as many as eight points in both halves. Shooting 50 percent from the field, they led 34-28 at the half and built their second half lead up to 45-37 midway through the second half. But never could they quite shake the Greyhounds, whom they had beaten twice in the regular season.
Fort Scott pulled even the first time at 49-49 with six minutes left but Lee beat the shot clock by less than a second with a 3-pointer with 4:43 left and then added a free throw 27 seconds later for a 53-49 lead. It wasn’t enough. Brolon Moton took advantage of a Blue Devil turnover for one field goal for the Greyhounds and John Freeman tied it with a put back with 2:03 left.
Twice Murray broke loose for go-ahead layups but each time Moton pulled the Greyhounds back even, the first with two free throws with 1:04 left, the second on a field goal at the 24.8 mark. After a time out, the Blue Devils set up Lee for what all the world looked like the game-winning layup.
Lee, who was 8-for-14 from the field, led all scorers with 19 points along with eight steals, four assists and four rebounds. Murray added 14 points, Kellen Turner 12 points and five assists and Lane Hartley eight points. The Blue Devils also committed just nine turnovers while forcing 15 by Fort Scott. Shooting was almost dead even – 24-of-50 for Fort Scott (.480) to 24-of-49 for KCKCC (.490).
Rebounding, however, was a whole different story. The Greyhounds doubled up on the Blue Devils 36-18 including 11 off the offensive boards that led to several follow shots. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, managed just three offensive rebounds as they finished the season 11-20. Fort Scott (14-17) moved on to the Region VI semifinals at Johnson County Monday night.
