Month: March 2018

KCKCC’s ‘Super Six’ pushes Jayhawk opponents to limit

Flanked by assistant coach Alton Mason, left, and head coach Kelley Newton, right, KCKCC finished out the 2017-18 season with a team of, from left, DuVonte Beard, Juvan Davenport, Chance Scott, Joshia Laws, Tyson Beringer and Malcolm Tate. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

The book on the 2017-18 Kansas City Kansas Community College men’s basketball team will show an 8-23 record. What it won’t show is the fight and determination of a half-dozen never-say-die Blue Devils.

Their roster trimmed to six players as a result of rules infractions by seven players including three double-digit scorers, the ‘Super Six’ as dubbed by the Kansas City Star defied all the odds stacked against them.

Highlighted by a 60-53 thumping of Labette, one of the Region VI championship finalists, the Blue Devils either led, were tied or within one point of the lead in six of the final eight games and it took several out of the ordinary performances – a 3-point shot at the horn, nine straight 3-pointers without a miss, 15 three-point field goals – to escape the Blue Devils.

“They did everything in their power to win,” KCKCC head coach Kelley Newton said. “They never quit, never gave up which says a lot about their character as individuals. They put their best on the floor, gave themselves a chance in every game and competed under tough circumstances, things that made me very, very proud. As a coach, I’ve been in this position before but none of these players had. They handled it the best way they knew how.”

Those six included two sophomores, 6-3 guard Juvan Davenport and 6-8 forward Josiah Laws; and freshmen Tyson Beringer, a 6-9 post; 6-3 guard Malcolm Tate, 6-6 forward DuVonte Beard; and 6-7 Chance Scott, who was headed for a redshirt season after a hand injury before playing the final eight games and providing needed minutes and a defensive presence.

Davenport led the way in scoring (16.9) and assists (2.6) along with 4.4 rebounds while Beringer led the Region VI in blocked shots (2.5), was third in rebounding (6.4) and averaged 7.3 points. Laws, who made 19 starts, averaged 4.7 rebounds and 4.3 points; Beard averaged 5.6 points in 19 starts; and Tate 6.5 points but 8.1 when he moved into the starting lineup.

With the short-handed roster, Newton put the emphasis on defense and ball control.

“We put our energy on the defensive end so we could control the tempo and pace of the game,” Newton said. “We had to. We wanted to play at a 50-point pace. It was our best chance to win with six guys. We felt we had a chance to win every single game.”

The strategy paid off with second half leads and down-to-the-wire finishes in five games. Here’s a look:

HIGHLAND, Feb. 3 – Leading 28-22 at halftime, KCKCC still trailed only 48-46 with 3 minutes remaining in a 60-51 loss.

LABETTE, Feb. 7 – Blue Devils took 17-0 and 28-4 leads and never trailed in 60-53 win over team that knocked champion JCCC out of the playoffs.

JCCC, Feb. 10 – Beaten earlier by 25 points, Blue Devils were tied 35-35 at half and trailed 72-68 with 1½ minutes left. JCCC won 79-72 by making 15 3-pointers.

At HESSTON, Feb. 14 – Blue Devils led 44-36 with 9:39 left only to have Hesston make a record nine straight 3-pointers without a miss for 73-61 win.

FORT SCOTT, Feb. 17 – En route to first 20-win season since 1991, Fort Scott opened 31-22 halftime lead and won 58-41.

At HIGHLAND, Feb. 22 – After KCKCC closed to 24-22 with two minutes left in half, Scotties pulled away for 69-51 win.

At LABETTE, Feb. 25 – KCKCC led 52-50 only to have Labette’s Frank Royles hit a heavily contested 3-pointer at the horn for 53-52 Cardinal win.

At FORT SCOTT, Feb. 28 – After leading playoff opener 42-33 with 15 minutes left, Blue Devils trailed 63-61 with 40 seconds to go and only four players left as the Greyhounds escaped 69-63.

The one area in which the Blue Devils came up short – 17.1 turnovers a game.

“That’s more than I’ve had since I’ve been here, a lot of unforced turnovers,” Newton said. “And our assists were way down which kind of sums up the year. We never jelled, we did not have the chemistry we needed.

“As we move forward into next season, we’re strongly looking at chemistry as we amp up our recruiting process. We’ve been hard at it for several months. There are several things we need to do to improve our program and that’s the pressure I’m putting on myself and my coaching staff.”

Academic symposium planned April 10 on opiate crisis

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Center for Teaching Excellence is presenting an Academic Symposium, “Addiction and the Opiate Crisis.”

Presented by Michael James, coordinator of the Addiction Counseling Program at KCKCC, the symposium will provide an academically informed discussion of the cycle of addiction, specifically focusing on the current opiate-opioid epidemic in the United States.

The event is from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. April 10 in Room 2325 on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave. Classes are welcomed to attend, but should contact the CTE at [email protected].

Dr. Jelena Ozegovic, faculty director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at KCKCC, said the idea for the symposium came out of the college’s Academic Discourse Committee, which includes both faculty and staff members. Submitted application proposals for symposiums are discussed, and the committee determines which topics might be of most interest to the broader campus community.

“Sometimes they decide that a broad range of topics should be selected and other times they decide upon a ‘theme’ for the semester,” she said. “This semester, the committee decided upon the Opiate Crisis theme since it is a multifaceted problem at both the local and national level. Additionally, because of the complexity of the issue, there are several academic areas on campus where the topic directly relates to course content.”

Ozegovic said events such as the CTE’s Academic Symposium series offers the campus community an opportunity for academic discourse, a historically integral part of the college campus experience throughout the United States.

“At KCKCC, we strive to create an environment that supports and encourages a variety of academic discourse events across the campus. These events create opportunities for all of us to listen, be open to others’ ideas, challenge ideas not people and be brutally honest without being brutal,” she said. “Ultimately, the academic discourse events at KCKCC are not designed to change anyone’s beliefs. That is a personal journey and a choice, but they are designed to provide an avenue for the respectful sharing of thoughts and ideas.”

For more information about the Academic Symposium Series or the Center for Teaching Excellence, call 913-288-7499 or email [email protected].

KCKCC baseball back home Friday after splitting at Indy

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

No sooner than returning home from splitting a doubleheader at Independence Thursday, Kansas City Kansas Community College had to go right back to the Jayhawk Conference baseball battlefield on Friday.

Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader with Indy was moved up from Saturday to Friday at 1 p.m. to avoid any chance of a Saturday rain out.

The Blue Devils needed 10 innings and some clutch two-out hitting to get a 7-6 win at Independence Thursday after the Pirates had taken an 18-8 error-filled win in a 5-inning opener.

Josh Schumacher’s two-out single in the top of the 10th inning scored the game-winner in the second game. The hit scored Adam North, who had walked with two out and stolen second base.

It was also the sixth run the Blue Devils scored with two out and made a winner out of Julian Rivera, who walked the first batter in the 10th and then retired the next three. In three innings of relief, Rivera gave up no hits, walked four and struck out two.

KCKCC took a 6-0 lead in the nightcap, scoring two runs in each of the first three innings. Kevin Santiago started it with a two-out home run and a double by Brandon Still and single by Gavin Gifford made it 2-0 in the first.

A single by Rorey Combs, Schumacher’s two-out double and a single by Tyler Pittman added two more runs in the second.

In the third, a Still single and Brigham Mooney’s one-out triple scored one run and Brady Holder’s two-out double made it 6-0.

The Blue Devils finished with a dozen hits including two hits each by Schumacher, Pittman, Santiago, Still and Mooney.

Independence managed just six hits but mounted two 3-run innings to forge a 6-6 tie.

Victor Gotay gave up the first three runs in the fourth on a walk, hit batsman and two hits.

The Pirates then tied it in the sixth, scoring all three runs off Allan Brown with two out including the tying run on a two-base error. Gotay and Brown each gave up three hits, walked two and struck out four.

Seven Blue Devil errors opened the floodgates for Independence in the 5-inning opener.

Cole Gacke took the loss, giving up 16 runs, only of which six were earned. He struck out three, walked none. Gavin Gifford finished up, allowing two hits and two runs.

KCKCC took a 2-0 lead in the first on a single by Still and a Remington Kelly sacrifice fly after a pair of hit batsmen but didn’t score again until the sixth and by then the Blue Devils trailed 16-2.

Santiago had a 2-run double and Combs a 2-run single in the 6-run inning that also included Still’s third hit and a single by Kelly.

Indy went ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the first and then scored four runs in the third, eight in the fourth and two in the fifth to end it aided in no small part by the seven errors including at least one in each scoring inning.