by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Southwestern Iowa came into the Kansas City Kansas Community College Field House unbeaten and nationally ranked but left by the barest of margins.
Trailing by 17 points at halftime, KCKCC stormed back with the Blue Devils’ best performance of the season before Southwestern (SWCC) escaped in a 53-50 defensive thriller that went right down to the final shot – a 3-point attempt that would have tied it with two seconds left.
The win kept the No. 6 ranked Spartans unbeaten at 8-0 while KCKCC fell to 2-6 heading into a road game at Iowa Western Tuesday at 7 p.m. and a home contest with Ottawa junior varsity Saturday at 4 p.m.
KCKCC’s comeback came after SWCC had opened a 20-point lead in the opening minutes of the second half and was fired by 6-2 freshman guard Calvin Slaughter, who had all of his 16 points in the second half, and 6-2 freshman Cody Dortch, who had a pair of pivotal 3-point goals.
Still down 40-25 with 13 minutes remaining, Slaughter and Dortch hit back-to-back 3-pointers and the rally was on.
Slaughter personally wiped out a 44-39 deficit with a field goal and trey to tie it and Kelyn Bolton gave the Blue Devils their first lead 46-44 with 3:45 left.
DuVonte’ Beard kept KCKCC in front 48-46 on an assist from Tyson Beringer only to have SWCC tie with a pair of free throws and then go ahead 51-48 on a 3-pointer by D’Marqueyon Whittington off a steal with 1:32 left.
Beard got KCKCC back to 51-50 with 1:17 to go only to have the Spartans’ Chad Moran hit one free throw, then corral his own miss on a second and add another for the 53-50 lead with 21 seconds left. Needing a trey to tie, sophomore Malcolm Tate’s heavily contested 3-pointer from in front of the KCKCC bench was just off line as time ran out.
SWCC built a 32-15 halftime lead with a suffocating man-to-man defense and total domination of the rebounding.
The Blue Devils were limited to just six field goals (21.4 percent) and only three offensive rebounds as the Spartans hauled down 20 defensive rebounds. Still it was an 18-15 game before SWCC scored the final 14 points of the half by shooting 58.3 percent from the field.
But it was the Blue Devils who turned the tables with outstanding rebounding and defense that got them back in contention in the second half.
KCKCC outrebounded the Spartans17-3 on the defensive boards and gave up only five field goals in 25 attempts (25 percent), one of the stingiest halves in history. Beard led the rebounding with nine, Beringer had seven and Slaughter and Bolton six each. Beringer also had three blocks and led in assists with four.
In addition to Slaughter’s game high 16 points, Dortch added 10 including three 3-pointers and Beard eight. Whittington had 14 points for Southwestern, which finished third in the 2018 NJCAA DII national tournament after winning the national championship in 2017.