by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Just when Kansas City Kansas Community College and Penn Valley appeared destined for another down-to-the-wire epic Saturday, the Scouts broke away for a 76-63 win in the Blue Devil Classic.
The win gave Penn Valley a sweep of this year’s two-game series and dropped the Blue Devils to 5-12 heading into a home game with Washburn University junior varsity Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The Washburn game is KCKCC’s final non-conference home game while the KCKCC women will play their final non-conference game Monday when they play host to Ottawa junior varsity at 6 p.m.
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and 10 early in the second half, the Blue Devils cut the Penn Valley lead to 50-47 with 10:30 remaining only to have the Scouts score 11 of the next 13 points over the next three minutes for a 61-49 lead and stayed in command the final seven minutes.
Forward Thomas Bell was the biggest thorn in KCKCC’s side, scoring a game high 21 points and dominating the boards with 13 rebounds while Roy Meekie added 18 points and B.J. Saunders four 3-pointers and 15 points.
Solomon Thomas had 16 points, Juwan Davenport 14 and Arother (Ro) Ratlift 9 points and a team-leading nine rebounds for the Blue Devils, who dug themselves a deep early hole with turnovers and cold shooting.
Ten of KCKCC’s 20 turnovers came in the first 12 minutes and after taking an early 7-5 lead, the Blue Devils missed 10 shots in a row over an 8½-minute span to fall behind 18-7. Still the Blue Devils got back to 33-25 at halftime despite shooting just 32.1 percent and get within three points only to have Penn Valley finish the game with a 26-16 run.
The Scouts shot 47.4 percent for the game to .397 for KCKCC, won the rebounding 35-33 and committed seven less turnovers.
Fort Scott finished unbeaten in the Blue Devil Classic, defeating On Point Hoops Academy 92-75 in a battle of 31-point scorers, Tyler Zimm for Fort Scott and Justin Harris for On Point. Zimm’s 31 points included 7-of-11 3-pointers while Harris had four treys.