Rally falls short Wednesday
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Will the momentum of a 52-point second half at Fort Scott Wednesday carry over into Kansas City Kansas Community College’s opening round playoff game Saturday?
The 52-point outburst wasn’t enough to overcome a 16-point halftime deficit in an 83-75 loss to Fort Scott. However, it was enough for the Blue Devils (7-5) to claim third place in Region VI Division I and a first round playoff game at home against Highland at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The win, meanwhile, gave Fort Scott the Region VI championship with a 9-3 record despite an overall losing record of 14-16. Upset 100-93 by Hesston at home, Johnson County (25-5) finished second in the region with an 8-4 record. KCKCC (19-10) swept its two previous meetings with Highland (15-15), winning 59-56 on the road and 63-53 at home.
“I hope we can simulate and duplicate some things from the second half Saturday, at least that’s the plan,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton, who is faced with the difficult task of beating a team a third time. “I don’t believe in that stuff, that’s something for the media. We just have to play better. The league is so wide open. You just don’t know which team is going to get hot.”
Five teams finished within three games on each other in the regional standings. Fort Scott (9-3) and JCCC (8-3) led with KCKCC and Brown Mackie both 7-5 and Hesston 6-6 but with wins over both Fort Scott and JCCC.
Guard Kellan Turner led KCKCC’s second half comeback at Fort Scott, scoring 17 of his 19 points including 5of-8 three-point attempts. Armoni Shorter also added a career high 19 points including six 3-pointers and Joe Lendway had 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Mike Lee added eight points and led in assists with six while Dehaven Talley had five assists. Lashawn Lewis led KCKCC rebounding with nine as the Blue Devils had a 35-26 board advantage.
Free throws again were the difference. The Blue Devils had six more field goals including a 13-9 advantage in three-pointers but were outscored 30-6 from the foul line. Fort Scott went to the free throw line 36 times to just nine for KCKCC.
The Greyhounds were a torrid 12-of-22 in the first half in taking a 39-33 lead only to have KCKCC mount its big second half comeback.
“We started making shots which gave us a fighting chance,” Newton said. “We cut the lead to five points with a little over four minutes left and had three opportunities to get closer. We just did a better job the second half, taking Fort Scott out of its comfort zone and limiting them to one shot which we didn’t do the second half.”
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.