by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s men return to second half basketball play with a bang – three games in four days.
They’re at Hutchinson Wednesday. The Blue Devils then will play host On Point Academy at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Metropolitan Community College at 4 p.m. Saturday as part of the KCKCC Classic that includes two games on Friday and three on Saturday.
Fort Scott and Metropolitan will kick off the Classic at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Fort Scott will take on On Point Academy Saturday at 2 p.m. The tripleheader will then close out Saturday at 6 p.m. when the KCKCC women will play host to Metropolitan.
Injuries plagued the Blue Devils in a 5-9 first semester. Sevon Witt, a 6-8 sophomore who was averaging nearly 22 points and 11 rebounds, tore an ACL in the sixth game of the season and sophomore guard Cody Dortch suffered a similar injury in the ninth game of the season. Dortch was averaging 9.0 points a game.
Despite the loss of 31 points a game, the Blue Devils are averaging 82.6 points per game, 2.1 points a game more than their opponents. They’re also shooting better (.462-.437) and outrebounding foes 40.7-38,4. Four of the losses have been by five points or less.
Jalen Davis, a 6-4 sophomore from Houston, leads the Blue Devils offensively, averaging 12.5 points with games of 31, 30 and 29 points while 6-7 freshman Robert Rhodes from Park Hill South is second in the Jayhawk Conference in rebounding with 8.6 per game and scoring at an 8.9 clip.
Rhodes has seven games with 10 or more rebounds. Deron McDaniel is second in scoring at 10.8 points per game and is second in the Jayhawk in 3-point accuracy, connecting on 31-of-69 for 44.9 percent.
Jermaine Yarbough, a 6-8 freshman from Grandview, is averaging 8.9 points and 4.7 points followed by 6-1 Ezekiel Lopes, 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds; and Calvin Slaughter, 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds.
DeAngelo Bell, a 5-9 guard from Harmon, leads in assists with 3.1 per game and is averaging 5.9 points. Other assists leaders are McDaniel (2.6), Slaughter (2.4) and Lopes (2.1). Additional scoring has come from freshman forwards Jaemaal Newson (3.9) and Timothy Barbieri (3.2).
KCKCC will close out non-conference play next week, playing No. 1 ranked North Central Missouri in Trenton Monday night and then playing host to Saint Mary junior varsity Thursday and Park junior varsity Friday, both at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils open Jayhawk Conference play at Labette Jan. 22.