by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
It took three timeouts in less than five minutes but once Coach Kelley Newton got his message across, Kansas City Kansas Community College rolled to an 86-56 win over Labette Wednesday.
Guilty of five turnovers against the Cardinals’ pressing defense, the Blue Devils trailed 10-2 just three minutes into the game, then did a complete turnaround. Scoring the next 13 points, the Blue Devils set off on a 22-2 rampage that opened the lead to 24-12 and the game was never close thereafter.
“We weren’t focused, not ready to play. That’s why we were down 10-2,” Newton said.
The win all but wrapped up a home game in the opening round of the Region VI playoffs. Solidly entrenched in third place at 6-3 and 18-9 overall, the Blue Devils close out their regular home season Saturday against their closest pursuer for third, Brown Mackie. Game time is 4 p.m.
The Blue Devils’ front court duo of 6-7 sophomore Joe Lendway and 6-9 freshman Jonathan Murray dominated like no two Blue Devils in KCKCC history – a combined 44 points and 30 rebounds. Both had big double doubles, Lendway with 24 points and 14 rebounds; Murray with 20 points and a career high 16 rebounds. Lendway was 12 of 13 from the field; Murray 8 of 13.
“Really big nights for our post players; I just hope they realize they can do more of it,” Newton said.
Led by freshman Mike Lee, who equaled his career high with 15 assists, the Blue Devils had 24 assists on 34 field goals.
“I thought we did a real good job of feeding the post in a lot of ways,” Newton said. The Blue Devils were an identical 17-of-33 each half for 51.5 percent while holding Labette to 29.7 percent.
Led by Murray, Lendway and Dehaven Talley, who had 15 points and six rebounds, the Blue Devils almost doubled the rebounding 57-30 and most important, gave up only five offensive rebounds.
“We did a good of holding them to one shot, a lot of one-shot possessions which was a key for us,” Newton said. “Outside of the first six or seven minutes, we picked up our energy level and except for too many turnovers (19), played well.”
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.