by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College put a stop on Brown Mackie’s Devin Shuler just in the nick of time Saturday.
In a span of just 6½ minutes, the 6-foot guard had scored 17 points to reduce an 11-point deficit to 71-69 with 18 seconds left and a chance to tie or even win with his fifth 3-pointer. The Blue Devils, however, gave him no chance as his heavily contested trey at the horn was well off target.
The 71-69 win boosted the Blue Devils’ record to 2-0 in the Region VI as they head into Jayhawk play Wednesday at Highland. Both games will be streamed on the Highland website, the women at 5:30 and men at 7:30 p.m.
Ironically, Shuler had only one field goal when he made two free throws to cut the KCKCC lead to 61-52 with 6:33 left. From there on in, he scored 17 of Brown Mackie’s final 19 points and it took field goals by Jon Murray, Kellen Turner and Daniel Kingcannon to keep KCKCC ahead. The biggest play came with 1:30 left, a layup and free throw by Washington’s Donald Metoyer that opened the KCKCC lead to 70-66.
Shuler’s fourth 3-pointer made it 70-69 but after one of two free throws by Murray, the Larks called a time out to set up potential game-winning three foiled by the tight defense of Mike Lee and Turner.
“The last play was outstanding,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “We got Mike Lee on point and didn’t let them get off a clean shot; just what we had talked about so it was really a great way to close out the game and show some toughness.”
Four Blue Devils scored in double figures with Lee leading the way with 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Turner also had seven assists and 10 points while Metoyer had 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and Kingcannon 11 points. Artavious Banks led in rebounding with a career high 10; Murray chipped in with nine points and five rebounds and Lane Hartley had a trio of 3-pointers, all in the first half that kept KCKCC in the lead.
Nailing 18-of-28 first half shots for 64.3 percent, the Blue Devils built their biggest lead at 44-31 and led 56-39 at the half. For the game, they were 27-of-54 for a season’s best 54 percent along with 17 assists on 27 field goals.
“We’re getting a few guys to step up and play at a higher level and showing that we can focus our play in the mental game as well as the physical game,” Newton said. “We’re making strides on being a better team as we go down the stretch. This was a good job of bouncing back from a letdown against Washburn. It’s a good way to start regional play but it still remains to be seen if we can put a couple of games together and finish up the first round of regional play with a good record.”