by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Shooting woes continued to plague Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young basketball team Wednesday night.
Park University’s JV took advantage of 33.3 Blue Devil shooting for a 63-52 win at Parkville, KCKCC’s fifth straight loss on the road. The Blue Devils are right back in action on Friday night when they play host to North Arkansas in the second half of a doubleheader at 7 p.m. North Ark won the first meeting of the two teams 87-84 in Harrisonville.
KCKCC opened a 5-point lead in the first five minutes in a first half that had three ties and three lead changes. But the Pirates took advantage of the Blue Devils’ frigid shooting and a rash of turnovers to surge to a 12-point lead on their way to a 27-21 halftime lead. Just 9-of-30 for 30 percent the opening half, the Blue Devils also were guilty of 11 of their 20 turnovers on the night.
With four players in double figures, the Pirates built leads of up to 19 points with 15 minutes left in the second half. Anthony Cerda, with 12 points and 11 rebounds, led Park.
Dion Union led KCKCC in scoring with 11 points while Trevon Jefferson and Zion Buckner added eight each, Tyson Beringer seven and Sterling Hicks six.
Jefferson also had 11 rebounds, Beringer 10 and Josiah Laws six as KCKCC won the rebounding battle 47-40. However, Park won the battle for steals 11-2 and had just 8 turnovers to KCKCC’s 20.