by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Hesston College wrote yet another heartbreaking finish for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Blue Devils Saturday.
Trailing by 12 points with less than six minutes remaining, the Larks outscored the Blue Devils 23-6 in the race to the finish in a 60-55 win. Hesston got its first Jayhawk Conference win with the victory and improved its season record to 14-5 while KCKCC fell to 0-2 in the league and 7-16 overall.
The Blue Devils go back on the road Wednesday at Fort Scott, a Region VI co-leader at 2-0 and 16-6 overall and then return home Saturday to host Highland in a 2 and 4 p.m. doubleheader.
A battle of defenses in a game that had five ties and five lead changes in the first half, KCKCC trailed 19-16 before three straight field goals by freshman forward Arother Ratliff in the final five minutes of the half helped push the Blue Devils to a 28-21 lead and KCKCC stayed in front until the final two minutes.
Hesston closed to 51-45 with eight minutes to go but back-to-back 3-pointers by Sterling Hicks and a layup by Tyson Beringer re-opened the KCKCC lead to 49-37 with 5:51 remaining.
Unfortunately, the Blue Devils managed just one more field until five seconds remained and by then Hesston had a 58-51 lead in outscoring KCKCC 21-2.
The turning point came after two missed free throws with the Blue Devils holding as 51-50 lead with 1:23 left.
Aubrey Johnson put Hesston in front 52-51, scoring off an offensive rebound with a minute left and 13 seconds later, Coye Campbell stole an errant KCKCC pass, scored, was fouled on the play and added a free throw for a 55-51 lead and the Larks protected it with five of six free throws. Johnson and Campbell each scored 15 points for Hesston.
Hicks was the lone Blue Devil in double figures with 15 points including 10 in the final eight minutes while Ratlift and Solomon Thomas added nine points each, Tyson Beringer eight and Juwan Davenport six.
Beringer had nine rebounds and Ratlift seven to give KCKCC a 38-34 edge on the boards.
The Blue Devils also shot better, 41.1 percent to .333 for Hesston, and committed just 12 turnovers. Unfortunately, three came in the final minutes along with four missed shots, two missed free throws and four fouls.