by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The road continued to be a pain for Kansas City Kansas Community College men’s basketball Wednesday as St. Louis held off the Blue Devils for a 52-48 win.
It was the fourth road loss for the Blue Devils, who still have road tests at Iowa Western Saturday and Penn Valley Nov. 29 before they finally return home Nov. 30 to play host to North Central.
KCKCC led by as many as five points early in a game that had five ties and three lead changes. St. Louis used a late first half surge to take a 31-27 halftime lead and led by as many as nine points midway through the second half before holding off a late KCKCC charge.
The Blue Devils got a standout performance from sophomore guard Kellan Turner, who drained 6-of-8 three-pointers and was 6-of-10 for the night in a 22-point effort. Jon Murray added another double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Lane Hartley hit a pair of three-pointers but no other Blue Devils had more than one field goal.
Defensively, the Blue Devils limited the Archers to 38.5 percent shooting but managed only 15 field goals in 46 attempts for 32.6 percent. The Archers also dominated the rebounding 44-32.