Month: March 2021

Overtime win vaults KCKCC men into Jayhawk lead

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Idled by the pandemic the last three weeks, it seemed only fitting Kansas City Kansas Community College’s men’s basketball team should go overtime in its first game back.

Getting a do-or-die free throw from Caleb Jones with two-tenths of a second remaining to get into overtime, the Blue Devils rode 3-pointers by DeAngelo Bell and Shayon Janloo to a down-to-the-wire 73-70 win Saturday.

The win vaulted the Blue Devils (3-1) into first place in the Jayhawk Conference ahead of Johnson County (5-2), Fort Scott (4-3) and Labette (4-3) with one regular season game remaining. KCKCC finishes at Fort Scott Wednesday while JCCC is at Labette and Highland (2-2) at Hesston (0-7).

The Blue Devils (10-6) were a free throw away from a win – or a loss in the final second of regulation play Saturday. Caleb Jones, who had made two free throws to give KCKCC a 65-64 lead with 14 seconds to play, was fouled with :02 left and the Blue Devils trailing 66-65. His first free throw came up short, the second center cut and overtime.

Labette took a quick 68-66 lead in overtime before Bell and Janloo delivered game-deciding 3-pointers. Bell’s came with 3:15 left for a 69-68 lead and Janloo followed with the haymaker with 39 seconds remaining and a 72-68 lead.

Labette’s Jermond Mosley’s layup made it 72-70 and the Cardinals sent Jones to the foul line with 14 seconds to go. He made the first but Bryson Dennis’ desperation 3-pointer to tie bounced off the back rim.

A 6-7 sophomore from Raytown South playing his final regular season home game, Jones led all scorers with a career high 26 points on 10-of-13 from the field. He also led the Blue Devils in rebounding with 10 with Robert Rhodes adding seven.

Bell totaled 15 points including 3-of-5 treys, Jonloo 11 points and Trey Bates a career high 11 assists and three steals.

The Blue Devils came out blazing, converting 16 of 30 shots for 53.3 percent and a 39-27 halftime only to have the Cardinals drain 5-of-10 3-pointers in out-scoring KCKCC 39-27 the second half.

Taking advantage of a sizeable size advantage, the Cardinals dominated rebounding 42-32 but committed 22 turnovers to 18 for KCKCC.

Roberts’ best helps KCKCC end 22-game Labette win streak

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Officially, it was Sophomore Night for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s No. 5 ranked women’s basketball team Saturday. In reality, it was Mercer Roberts Night.

The 5-11 sophomore from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, scored the first 12 Blue Devil points in the second half to help build a 19-point lead on the way to a 77-70 upset of previously unbeaten Labette.

The win, KCKCC’s biggest of the season, ended Labette’s 22-game winning streak dating back to last season, and put the Blue Devils (6-2) in position to clinch a first round bye in the Region VI playoffs beginning April 5. KCKCC (17-2) closes out regular season play at Fort Scott Wednesday.

Roberts, who had not scored more than 10 points in any game this season and was averaging 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds, exceeded her all-time best in less than five minutes.

She started the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers and then scored three straight layups for a 49-30 lead. She finished with a team high 19 points (7-10), seven rebounds and two assists.

As it turned out, the 19-point lead was barely enough. The Cardinals made repeated runs at catching up. Aliyah Myers’ 3-pointer stemmed one charge; Roberts’ layup stemmed another but it took four clutch free throws by D.J. Guillory and key rebounds by Ikla Elam, Guillory and Roberts to hold on.

Labette closed to 70-66 before Guillory made two free throws with 29 seconds left and then added two more after the Cardinals had closed to 73-70 with 18 seconds remaining.

Three Blue Devils joined Roberts in double figures. Guillory had 14 points and seven rebounds, Tiaira Earnest 13 points and three assists; and Elam 11 points and seven rebounds against a lanky Labette roster of seven 6-footers.

However, it was the smaller Blue Devils who won the rebound battle 46-43. Paramount to the win was also the play of Aliyah Myers, who had eight assists and six steals in her final regular season game.

“Mercer Roberts played best game of her life,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “We’ve known she’s not just capable of making threes but that she can impact the game in other ways and today we saw that. Ikia Elam gave us a huge lift as the equalizer we needed around the basket against a team as big as Labette. She was aggressive, battled for rebounds and did a great job with what we needed from her defensively.

“With Hannah Valentine out for the season, we really needed D.J. Guillory to pick up Hannah’s minutes and today she was fantastic. She made plays around the rim, was very active rebounding on both ends and was great defensively as well. If I’m being honest though, everyone who got in contributed for us and had a huge role in this win. Sometimes you just need to prove to yourself of what is possible and I know they are capable of whatever they dedicate themselves to”

Fatal accident reported near 9th and Parallel

A man died from his injuries in an accident at 1:35 a.m. Sunday, March 28, in the 900 block of Parallel Parkway, according to a Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman.

The driver, a man in his early 30s, was eastbound on Parallel Parkway in a sport utility vehicle when it struck two utility poles and came to rest on its side, police stated.

The SUV first struck a utility pole in the median, then struck another utility pole on the westbound side of Parallel, according to the police spokesman.

The driver died from his injuries at the accident scene, the police spokesman stated.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Traffic Division is investigating. Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS, police said.