by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College wrapped up the 12th annual Keith Lindsey tournament with the Blue Devils’ best performance of the season.
Trailing St. Louis Community College 35-34 at halftime, the Blue Devils surged to a 78-64 win that ended a two-game losing streak and evened their record at 2-2 heading into road games at Allen County Tuesday and North Central Thursday before returning home Saturday to play host to Whiteman Air Force Base at 4 p.m.
Led by freshmen guards Kellan Turner and Mike Lee, the Blue Devils outscored the Archers 44-29 the second half.
A 5-11 freshman from Liberty, Turner had 13 of his game high 21 points and three 3-pointers in the second half while Durham, N.C., product Mike Lee contributed eight of his 13 points. Lansing sophomore Joe Lendway was also a major contributor with eight of his game-high 12 rebounds and six of his 14 points.
“For the first time this season, we played Blue Devil basketball, which was a huge step for this team to take big strides in creating an identity,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton. “We were focused before and during the game and played like a team, all firsts for this group. I just hope that now we can use this and move forward and it will snowball the rest of the season.”
The Blue Devils shot superbly from start to finish, shooting 59.1 percent the first half (13-of 22) and 43.3 percent (16-of 30) the second while limiting the Archers to just 39.7 percent for the game.
KCKCC was also 11-of-22 from 3-point with Turner draining four, Lee three and Dehaven Talley his only two attempts. Lendway led KCKCC to a 36-25 command of the rebounding while Lee had five assists, Turner four and Devante Sayles three.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.