by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College battled Goliath toe-to-toe for 36 minutes Saturday before fading against the biggest team the Blue Devils will face all season.
Boasting a quartet of forwards 6-foot-8 to 6-11, Iowa Western erased a 7-point deficit in the final eight minutes for a 71-59 win. The win boosted the Reivers’ record to 13-2 while KCKCC finished pre-holiday play at 4-10.
On paper the game should have been a mis-match – Iowa Western’s four-man rotation of 6-11 Emmanuel Ugboh, 6-8 Parker Hazen, 6-9 Esahia Nyiwe and 6-8 Amadou Sylla against KCKCC’s front line of 6-6 Jonathan Richmond, 6-5 Arother Ratliff, 6-5 DuVonte’ Beard and 6-6 Daiyon Taylor.
And yet it was the Blue Devils who held a 48-41 lead with 9:34 remaining. Iowa Western finally went ahead 50-49 with 7:33 left and it was 61-56 with 3:45 to go before the Reivers finally escaped, punctuating a 10-3 finish with rim-jarring slam dunks by the 6-11 Ugboh and guard Caleb Huffman. Until then, there were eight ties and nine lead changes.
“We just ran out of gas,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “The last six minutes just killed us. We were in control up until then. Iowa Western is a really good team – big, fast athletic, everything you need for a winning program. But we also assisted them with some ill-advised shots and lazy passes, the kind of things good teams take advantage of and that’s what they do.”
Defensively, the gutty Blue Devils held the Reivers’ well under their season scoring average of 84.6 and 25-of-59 shots for 42.4 percent, also well under their season’s average of 48.2 percent.
KCKCC also had four less turnovers (15-11) but couldn’t match Iowa Western on the boards. Limiting the Blue Devils to just two offensive rebounds, the Reivers dominated 43-27 with 14 of the rebounds coming on the offensive end.
Jalen Davis had 13 points, Ratliff 11 and Richmond 10 to lead KCKCC. Davis also led rebounding with six. Malcolm Tate added eight poimts, Beard seven and Taylor six as the Blue Devils netted 21-of-47 shots for 44.7 percent. However, KCKCC was just 11-of-19 from the foul line.
Christian Bentley, a 6-3 sophomore guard, was a one-man wrecking crew for Iowa Western, scoring 28 points including 7-of-12 three-pointers. Travon Broadway added 16 points and Huffman 15.
“We’re getting better,” Newton said. “We’ve got a taste of what it takes to be a winning team. We’ll come back after Christmas and see if we can make the most of it.”
Idle for the next three weeks, when the Blue Devils resume action Jan. 8 they’ll play seven games in 15 days, five of which will be at home starting with the Blue Devil Classic Jan. 11-12 against On Point Academy and Metropolitan Community College (formerly Penn Valley).
