by Alan Hoskins
Freshman center Jonathan Murray was nearly perfect in shooting Tuesday as he led Kansas City Kansas Community College to a 112-68 win over Ottawa University’s JV.
A 6-9 center from Macon, Mo., Murray was 12-of-13 from the field in a career high 25-point performance along with seven rebounds and two assists.
“Jon Murray had a great game tonight for one reason and one reason only – he was aggressive,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton.
The win boosted the Blue Devils to 6-5 heading into a home contest with Westminster JV Friday at 7 p.m.
Seven other Blue Devils scored eight or more points as all 13 Blue Devils scored and had rebounds. Mike Lee added 12 points, Armoni Shorter 11, Trevor Young 10, Dehaven Talley, Joe Lendway and Xavier Gaona 9 each and Donald Metoyer 8.
Devante Sayles and Mike Lee quarterbacked the Blue Devils’ biggest offensive outburst of the season with eight assists apiece while Shorter, Young and Metoyer led KCKCC to a 55-24 domination of the rebounding with eight each.
“We needed a game like this for this team to gain some confidence,” Newton said. “I think we are figuring out how to play hard consistently and this has started to show the last four games. If this young team figures this all out, we could be dangerous.”
Leading by only six points midway through the first half, the Blue Devils surged to a 51-34 halftime lead and then poured in a season-high 61 second half points on 66.7 percent shooting (24-of-36).
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.