Month: January 2019

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

A near flawless overtime carried Kansas City Kansas Community College to a 69-59 win at Hesston Saturday.

The Blue Devils scored on four of their first five possessions in the extra period and held the Larks scoreless for all but the final 24 seconds of the overtime.

The win evened the Blue Devils’ Jayhawk Conference record at 1-1 heading into a pair of home games this coming week. Fort Scott comes in for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff Wednesday and No. 2 ranked Highland follows Saturday at 4 p.m.

Daiyon Taylor, a 6-6 freshman from Detroit, was the catalyst in the win, forcing overtime with a late field goal and then scoring the first four points of the overtime.

Turning in his finest performance, Taylor finished with 22 points and hauled in 15 rebounds, both career bests.

The Blue Devils also got a standout rebounding effort from 6-2 freshman guard Calvin Slaughter, who had a career-high 12 rebounds as the Blue Devils dominated the rebounding 51-29.

Taylor started the overtime with two free throws and a basket for a 55-51 lead.

Arother Ratliff scored from close range and Kelyn Bolton made it 59-51 with a field goal and the Blue Devils opened the margin to 62-51 before Hesston finally scored with 24 seconds left, ending a streak of eight straight scoreless possessions.

“A great team win,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “Daiyon Taylor was outstanding with both his scoring and rebounding and it was good to see Calvin Slaughter rebounding so well from the guard position. Overall, I felt we were locked in the entire game.”

Leading 29-22 at halftime, KCKCC was in front 38-30 with 13 minutes to go only to be outscored 13-1 and trail 43-39.

A Kelyn Bolton field goal, two Malcolm Tate free throws and three charity tosses by Slaughter got KCKCC back in the lead 48-47 but it took a free throw and then a length of the floor driving layup by Taylor with 53 seconds left for a 51-51 deadlock.

Both teams missed chances to take the lead in the closing seconds but once in overtime it was all KCKCC.

The Blue Devils took just four shots in overtime, made three and then converted 12 of 18 free throws while the Larks were just 3-of-12 in the extra period. Guilty of just one turnover in overtime, the Blue Devils had just 12 total while forcing Hesston in 16 errors.

Taylor Turner added 10 points, Slaughter and Ratliff eight points each, Bolton seven and Cody Dortch five for KCKCC.

The Blue Devils took only 47 shots from the field, made 19 for 40.4 percent while limiting the Larks to just 19-of-63 attempts (30.2 percent).

Ten of Hesston’s 19 field goals were 3-pointers as the Larks put up 36 attempts. Cal Hartley, the Jayhawk’s leading scorer, led all scorers with 28 points but needed 16 shots for six 3-pointers.

In other Jayhawk play Saturday, No. 2 ranked Highland escaped Labette 72-70 at home while No. 10 ranked Johnson County was winning at Fort Scott 66-55. Highland plays at JCCC Monday in a makeup of Wednesday’s game that was snowed out.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Rapid firing Kansas City Kansas Community College scored 21 points in 4½ minutes to propel the Lady Blue Devils to a 114-67 win at Hesston Saturday.

The win was the 19th in 22 starts for the Blue Devils, who return home this coming week to play host to Fort Scott Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and No. 3 ranked Highland Saturday at 2 p.m.

Leading 11-10 with 4:30 left in the first quarter, the Blue Devils scored on nine of the next 10 possessions, knocking down 9-of-11 shots in the game-breaking rampage. The 21-7 run opened a 32-17 first period lead and it was never close the rest of the way.

Sophomore Kisi Young was the catalyst in the early surge with six field goals. Nija Collier added a basket and 3-pointer and Lillie Moore a field goal. Together, the trio combined for 60 points and 30 rebounds.

Young finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds; Collier 20 points and 10 rebounds; and Moore a game high 23 points but just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.

Freshman guard Caroline Hoppock provided the outside punch with career highs of five 3-pointers and 16 points. The Blue Devils finished with 11 3-pointers. In addition to Hoppock’s five, Brodi Byrd had three and Camryn Swanson, Carson Chandler and Collier one each.

Six Blue Devils scored in double figures with Byrd and Lenaejhe Evans adding 11 points each. Evans had four assists and Moore three to lead the way.

“A good job by our girls in getting back on track after a disappointing loss to Labette Wednesday,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Offensively our execution was very good all night long and getting the shots that we wanted. Again balanced scoring and a great job of rebounding the ball, particularly on the offensive end.”

The Blue Devils knocked down 44 of 85 field goal attempts for 51.8 percent while limiting the Larks to 22-of-66 attempts (,333) and dominating the rebounding, pulling down 27 off the offensive boards in controlling the boards 54-36.

“At halftime I challenged the girls on taking care of the ball (10 first half turnovers) and I thought they did a great job with just five turnovers in the second half,” McKinstry said. “I also didn’t like that we gave up 23 points in the third quarter so I was very pleased with our defensive effort in the fourth (12 points).”

In other Jayhawk action Saturday, No. 1 ranked Johnson County won at Fort Scott 65-57 while No. 3 Highland escaped Labette 74-72 at home. On Monday, JCCC will play host to Highland at 5:30 p.m. in a makeup of their snowed-out game Wednesday.