by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas Community College picked the worst time of the season for one of their worst shooting performances Monday. Scoreless the final four minutes, KCKCC dropped a 60-51 decision at Hesston.
The loss knocked the Blue Devils (7-4) out of any chance of a first round Region VI Division II playoff bye with still one game remaining – at second place Fort Scott (8-3) Wednesday night. While a KCKCC win at Fort Scott would knot the two teams at 8-4 for second, the Greyhounds have the edge by virtue of their win over league champion Johnson County.
That means that KCKCC (19-10) will host Highland (15-15) in a first round playoff game Saturday at 4 p.m., where a win would send the Blue Devils to Fort Scott Tuesday for a semifinal battle.
Trailing by 10 points with 13½ minutes left in the first half, the Blue Devils battled back to forge a 27-27 halftime tie and then surged to an 8-point lead with 9:07 left before the shooting turned sour. The two teams changed leads four times and had four ties only to have the Blue Devils go without a single field goal or free throw the final four minutes and 13 seconds.
“It was Hesston’s last game and their sophomores were more motivated than we were,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton. “They executed very well down the stretch and got some key rebounds for second chance opportunities. Basically, they were tougher down the stretch than we were.”
Free throws proved to be the difference, Hesston went to the foul line 16 times, made 11 while the Blue Devils were just one of four and did not shoot a free throw in the second half. Neither team shot well, KCKCC 21-of-68 for 30.9 percent; Hesston 20-of-60 for 33.3 percent.
Kellan Turner led the Blue Devils with 18 points including four three-pointers while Joe Lendway added 10 points and nine rebounds and Jonathan Murray seven points and eight rebounds.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.