by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s short-handed men’s basketball team got shot down Wednesday night by the most spectacular 3-point shooting in Jayhawk Conference history.
Trailing KCKCC by eight points midway through the second half, Hesston drained nine consecutive 3-point field goals without a miss in a 6-minute stretch for a 73-61 victory.
The loss dropped the Blue Devils (1-6) a game back of Labette (2-5) in the Jayhawk Conference heading into their final home game of the season Saturday against Fort Scott in the second half of a doubleheader at 4 p.m. The game is also Sophomore Day with Juwan Davenport and Josiah Laws to be recognized in post-game ceremonies.
KCKCC had a 44-36 lead with 9:39 left in the second half at Hesston only to have the Larks drain 3-pointers on nine of their next 10 possessions (one turnover). Five Larks had 3-pointers in the stretch of nine straight. Aubrey Johnson was the leader with four while Cal Hartley had two.
The 27-10 assault pushed Hesston to a 63-54 lead with 3:29 remaining and overcame KCKCC’s 50 percent shooting the second half (13-of-26).
The Larks put up 33 3-point attempts, netting 15 for 45.5 percent including a torrid 10-of-17 in the second half (.588). The Blue Devils, who had only two less field goals, were 5-of-13 from distance.
The Blue Devils were led by freshman Malcom Tate, who scored a game high and career high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3-point. Tyson Beringer added 14 points before fouling out while Juwan Davenport added 10, DuVonte Beard 8 and Josiah Laws 7.
Laws also led in rebounding with eight while Davenport and Beard added seven each to give KCKCC a 31-30 board edge. KCKCC also shot better (.418-.403) while committing 11 turnovers to Hesston’s seven..
In other conference action Wednesday, Johnson County (7-0) took a two-game lead over Highland (5-2) with a 74-66 home court win while Labette was upsetting Fort Scott 70-68.