by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Johnson County lived up to its No. 5 national ranking Monday. Starting with two thunderous dunks, the Cavaliers raced to an 87-52 win over Kansas City Kansas Community College in Overland Park.
The win pulled the Cavaliers (22-4) into a first place tie with No. 6 ranked Highland (23-2) in the Jayhawk Conference at 5-1 while KCKCC (12-14) fell into a fourth place tie with Fort Scott at 2-4.
The Blue Devils are right back in action Wednesday when they play host to Hesston (10-15) at Academic Success Night.
KCKCC won the first clash with Hesston 69-59 in overtime. It’s the next to last home game for KCKCC. The Blue Devils return to the road at Fort Scott Saturday and Highland next Wednesday before finishing regular season play against JCCC Saturday, Feb. 23.
Ignited by a pair of slam dunks by 6-6 sophomore David Turner, JCCC opened a 14-6 lead in the first six minutes.
The Blue Devils were still within striking distance at 18-10 with 11:57 remaining only to go scoreless over the next 6:19, during which time the Cavaliers opened a 28-10 lead. Knocking down 16-of-32 shots, JCCC built a 42-21 lead at halftime.
Calvin Slaughter, a 6-2 freshman guard from Macon, Georgia, led the Blue Devils offensively, scoring 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Slaughter also led in rebounds with seven. Arother Ratliff added eight points and six rebounds, Kelyn Bolton seven points; and Jonathan Richmond five points and six rebounds.
Taking advantage of an edge in size, JCCC had a 40-31 edge in rebounding. The Cavaliers also turned 20 KCKCC turnovers into 24 points and outscored the Blue Devils 21 points from 3-point range, knocking down 10-of-30 to 3-of-19 for KCKCC.
All five starters scored in double figures for JCCC led by an outstanding all-around performance by Nick Larkin, a 6-0 sophomore guard from Lee’s Summit. Larkin had a triple-double with 10 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists as the Cavaliers had 25 assists on 32 field goals. Turner led all scorers with 18 points