by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women easily cleared their first Jayhawk Conference hurdle Saturday but the Blue Devil men literally ‘fouled out’ in their attempt to make the opening conference twin bill a sweep.
Outscored 21 points from the free throw line, the Blue Devils dropped a last second 81-78 decision to Labette after the 11th ranked Lady Blue Devils had cruised to a 77-46 win over the Lady Cardinals.
The win boosted the KCKCC women to 10-1 heading into a home game Tuesday with North Central Missouri at 5 p.m. to be followed by a men’s game pitting KCKCC (8-3) against Iowa Western at 7 p.m.
A 32-20 difference in fouls was pivotal in the Blue Devil men’s loss. Not only did Labette convert 35 of 47 free throws to 14 of 19 for KCKCC, fouls kept starters on the Blue Devil bench for lengthy spells. Of the nine healthy Blue Devil players Saturday, one fouled out and six others had four fouls each.
Labette guard Tevin Foster made the most of the fouls, draining 16 of 18 free throws on the way to a 41-point performance highlighted by a torrid 7-of-8 three pointers.
Leading by eight points early in the second in a game that had five ties and six lead changes, the Blue Devils still led 63-60 with six minutes to go.
However, Labette used an 11-3 run to go ahead 71-66 and still led 81-76 with 10 seconds left when KCKCC nearly pulled off a miracle comeback.
After Austin Hall’s rebound field goal cut the lead to 81-78 with four seconds left, the Blue Devils forced a turnover only to have C.J. Vallejo’s tying 3-point attempt go astray.
Hall led the Blue Devils with 17 points and five rebounds while Ray Ridley added 12 points and Joe Lendway and Andre Runnels 10 each. Ridley also had seven assists and Vallejo six assists and nine points.
Lendway led rebounding with six and Armoni Shorter had five but KCKCC was outrebounded 39-28 and buried from 3-point territory as the Cardinals were 8-of-14, KCKCC 8-of-26.
The Blue Devil women ended Labette’s four-game winning streak by rushing to a 37-22 halftime lead behind 12 points from Cassidy Harbert and 10 from Cheyenne North. North led all scorers with 20 on 10-of-15 shooting while Harbert finished with 14 points, Erin Anderson 11 and Cierra Gaines 10.
North also led in rebounding with seven while Harbert and Anderson had six and Julia Garrard five as KCKCC controlled the rebounding 51-39.
Led by Anderson’s seven steals, KCKCC forced 32 Labette turnovers. The Blue Devils also had 21 assists on 30 field goals led by Harbert’s six and Gaines’ five.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director for KCKCC.