by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College didn’t pull off the Jayhawk Conference’s biggest upset of the year Saturday but boy, did the Blue Devils give it a whale of a battle.
Playing with just six players including redshirt Chance Scott playing his first college game, the Blue Devils led the first three quarters of the contest and trailed by just two points with less than three minutes to go before Highland escaped with a 60-51 win.
The win boosted the Scotties’ record to a conference-best 18-6 while KCKCC fell to 7-17 heading into an Academic Achievement home twin bill Wednesday against Labette.
A 3-point goal by Holden Redpath, his sixth of the game in just nine attempts, and a steal and layup by Taiveyhon Mason with 2 ½ minutes remaining, ignited a 9-0 run that finally gave the Scotties breathing room against the exhausted Blue Devils
The Blue Devil bench reduced to one by suspensions of seven players on Thursday, Juwan Davenport and Malcolm Tate played all 40 minutes for KCKCC, Tyson Beringer 39, Josiah Laws 36 and DuVonte Beard 34. And yet the Blue Devils led 28-22 at halftime, did not give up the lead until 10:38 remained and were down just 48-46 before the Scotties escaped in the final three minutes.
“I was so proud of these guys, they gave such a great effort,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “Under the circumstances, they left everything on the floor. You couldn’t ask for more, they gave everything they had.”
Davenport led the scoring with 20 points while Tate added 11, Beard and Beringer 8 each and Scott a 3-pointer on his first college shot. Beringer also had nine rebounds, Laws and Beard eight each and Davenport and Tate five apiece as KCKCC decisively won the battle of the boards 40-29.
With the odds stacked so heavily against them, the Blue Devils wisely kept the ball away from the high-scoring Scotties as much as possible. Working the 30-second clock and putting up clock-beating shots offensively, the Blue Devils stayed out foul trouble and shut down the Scotties defensively with an aggressive zone and controlling the rebounding.
Both team shots right at 37 percent and the Blue Devils were 16-of-25 from the foul line to only 6-of-8 for Highland. The difference was that KCKCC got off just 40 shots to 60 for the Scotties; Highland made nine 3-pointers (34 attempts) to 4-of-12 for the Blue Devils; and the dreaded turnovers. The Scotties converted 21 KCKCC turnovers into 14 points; Highland committed just seven.
Redpath finished with a game-high 22 points, Mason added 13 as they combined for 35 of the Scotties 59 points.
In other action Saturday, Johnson County (4-0) took undisputed possession of the Region VI lead by handing Fort Scott its first league loss 76-68.
