by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Armonti Shorter did it all for Kansas City Kansas Community College men’s basketball Saturday. He started with a stirring vocal rendition of the National Anthem and then led the Blue Devils in scoring in a pivotal 67-59 win over Brown Mackie.
One of four sophomores playing their final regular season home game, Shorter was 3-for-5 from 3-point range in a career high 14-point performance that helped vault the Blue Devils into the thick of the Region VI race.
Coupled with Johnson County’s 86-70 win over Fort Scott Saturday, the Blue Devils are tied with Fort Scott in the Region VI standings at 7-3 with two games to go including a head-to-head showdown at Fort Scott in the season finale Wednesday. However, both teams have to get over road hurdles first. KCKCC plays at dangerous Hesston Monday while Fort Scott goes to Labette, which has just one region win.
Leading Brown Mackie by as many as 16 points in the first half, the Blue Devils needed a suffocating defense in the closing minutes to hold on for the win. KCKCC still led 42-28 with 15 minutes left when Brown Mackie steadily closed the gap and finally pulled even at 58-58 with 3:00 to go.
That’s when the Blue Devil defense was at its best, limiting Brown Mackie to one free throw and six missed shots the rest of the way. Joe Lendway regained the lead for KCKCC with a basket with 2:45 left, Jonathan Murray and Dehaven Talley each added one of two free throws and backup guard delivered the final dagger, a short range jump shot with 52 seconds left that opened the lead to 64-58.
“I thought our defense was outstanding,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton. “I thought we really made it tough for them to get good shots. And I was happy the way we stayed in there and rebounded when they were making their comeback.”
Murray led the rebounding with 11 and scored seven points while Lendway was the only Blue Devil besides Shorter to score in double figures, netting 10 points and grabbing six rebounds. Trevor Young and Lashawn Lewis each came off the bench to score eight points with Young a perfect 4-for-4 in just six minutes while freshman guards Kellan Turner and Mike Lee each had six points and four assists.
The game was the final home regular season game for four Blue Devils – Lendway, Shorter, Talley and Lewis – although they’ll make one more home appearance in either a first round playoff game Saturday or a semifinal contest Tuesday, March 1.
“It was great to see these guys finish on a good performance like this,” Newton said.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.