by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Just when it looked like Kansas City Kansas Community College was poised to spring a big upset, the roof fell in on the Blue Devils Saturday.
Led by Malcolm Tate, the Blue Devils surged to a 23-14 lead over No. 9 ranked Johnson County with less than six minutes left in the half. By the time KCKCC scored again with 14 seconds left in the half, the Cavaliers had scored 19 straight points and led 33-23 on the way to a 61-56 win.
The win gave JCCC a share of the Jayhawk Conference championship with No. 4 Highland, both with 9-1 records. The Blue Devils (4-6), meanwhile, finished fourth and will play host to Fort Scott (3-7) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in first round NJCAA Region VI playoff action.
KCKCC swept Fort Scott in the first two meetings of the two teams, the Blue Devils winning 65-58 at home and 70-67 at Fort Scott. A third win would send the Blue Devils to Highland Saturday in a semifinal contest. In Wednesday’s other opener, Labette (5-5) will play host to Hesston (0-10).
A sophomore from Wichita South playing his final home game, Malcolm Tate had four field goals including a pair of 3-pointers for 11 points and Taylor Turner and Calvin Slaughter each chipped in with a trey in building KCKCC’s 23-14 lead against JCCC.
“A really good 14 minutes but we’ve got to be mentally tougher when teams make a run at us,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said.
Sophomore General Williams fueled the JCCC run with a trio of 3-pointers, Xavier Womack converted a pair of 3-point plays and David Turner contributed two layups to the game-changing outburst. Williams finished with 21 points, Turner 13 and nine rebounds and Womack 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Trailing 33-25 at the half, KCKCC got within five points early in the second half only to have Williams connect on the fourth of his five 3-pointers and the Blue Devils never got closer until the final seconds.
Sophomore Arother Ratliff led the Blue Devils with 15 points and nine rebounds. Tate finished with 11 points, Slaughter nine, Turner six and Cody Dortch five. Kelyn Bolton led in assists with four and grabbed six rebounds.
Neither team shot well, The Cavaliers were 17-of-54 for 32.7 percent; the Blue Devils 20-of-61 for 32.8 percent. KCKCC had a slight 43-41 edge in rebounds but not enough to overcome a rash of turnovers – 17 in all that JCCC converted into a game-changing 27 points. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, got just five points out of 11 Cavalier miscues.