by Alan Hoskins
Regardless of records, Kansas City Kansas Community College-Penn Valley shootouts have almost always gone right down to the wire and Saturday night’s collision at Penn Valley was as usual, KCKCC turning back a late Scout rally for a 64-62 win.
The win evened the Blue Devils’ record at 5-5 heading into a home doubleheader with Ottawa University’s JV Tuesday with the women playing at 5 p.m. and the men at 7 p.m.
KCKCC built a 36-28 halftime lead at Penn Valley and led by as many as 13 points in the second half before the Scouts put on a late rally.
“We didn’t play as well as we’d hoped but we appreciate any win on the road,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton.
The Blue Devils got big performances from a pair of Lansing graduates. Sophomore forward Joe Lendway posted a double double, leading all scorers with 18 points and hauling in a career high 15 rebounds while freshman forward Trevor Young had a career high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. “Trevor played well,” Newton said.
Freshman Xavier Gaona added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Mike Lee led in assists with five. KCKCC dominated the rebounding 37-22 and held the Scouts to just 38.7 percent shooting from the field.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.