by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College saved its best to the last in an 84-76 overtime win at Brown Mackie in Salina Wednesday.
After letting a 16-point halftime lead get away, the Blue Devils (15-7) never trailed in the overtime and vaulted into a four-way tie for first place in the Jayhawk Conference. With Fort Scott’s 93-83 upset of No. 4 ranked Johnson County Wednesday, four teams are tied at 3-1 – KCKCC, Hesston, Fort Scott and JCCC.
The win sets up a couple of first place contests for the Blue Devils, who host Fort Scott Saturday at 4 p.m. and Hesston next Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The Blue Devils were near perfect in overtime at Brown Mackie, hitting 4 of 5 field goal attempts and 7 of 8 free throws in the last 2:05 after shooting just 29.3 percent and scoring only 20 points in the second half.
“In the first half we were effective when they doubled and made the right play,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton. “But they sped us up and got us out of control in the second.” Guilty of just four first half turnovers, the Blue Devils committed 16 in the second half and overtime to let the Lions back in contention
Joe Lendway, who led all scorers with 23 points and 10 rebounds, put the Blue Devils ahead to stay with a layup on an assist from Trevor Young with 3:25 left in overtime and then added another field goal and two free throws during a decisive 6-1 run. Young, who came on when Jonathan Murray fouled out in overtime, also came up with a pair of key defensive plays.
Young, who forced one of four Brown Mackie turnovers in overtime with a deflection, took a charge against the Lions’ Kevin Loving with 45.3 seconds left and KCKCC protecting a three-point lead. “In my mind Trevor made the plays of the game,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton.
“We got outplayed in overtime,” said veteran Brown Mackie coach Francis Flax. “We wanted to double team the post and we just weren’t doubling hard enough. But when you give up 49 points in a half you deserve to lose.”
Finishing the first half on a 14-3 run, KCKCC led 49-33 at the break only to have the Lions score the first 12 points on the second half. Two late 3-point goals enabled Brown Mackie to force overtime, one by Sam Smith with 22 seconds left and another by Nygel Jones with 9.4 seconds to go.
“Brown Mackie’s a really good team, very athletic and they put so much pressure on you,” Newton said. “I knew the comeback was going to happen, especially when you’re up 16 at halftime. I just didn’t know it would happen that way.”
Kellan Turner was the catalyst in KCKCC’s big start. Hitting all four of his 3-point attempts, Turner and Lendway each had 12 points as the Blue Devils were 18 of 33 for 54.5 percent the first half. Turner finished with 16 points, Xavier Gaona 14 and Dehaven Talley 12. Mike Lee had seven assists and Lendway five while Lashawn Lewis had six rebounds.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director for KCKCC.