by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The road continued to be unfriendly to Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young men’s basketball team Monday as the Blue Devils dropped a 66-57 decision to Washburn University’s junior varsity in Topeka.
It was the fourth straight loss on the road for the Blue Devils, who fell to 4-6 overall heading into another road test at Park University’s junior varsity Wednesday in Topeka. The Blue Devils then return home Friday to play host to North Arkansas at 7 p.m. It was North Ark who started KCKCC’s road losing skid with an 87-84 win Nov. 15.
KCKCC actually had a 21-20 edge in field goals at Washburn but the Ichabods (5-1) had nine 3-pointers to three for the Blue Devils and converted 17-of-23 free throws.
Defensively, the Blue Devils led by 6-9 freshman Tyson Beringer, limited Washburn to just 29.9 percent shooting (20-of-67) and won the rebounding battle 47-42. Beringer blocked seven shots, scored eight points and led in rebounds with 10 while flirting with a rare triple-double.
Dion Union was the only Blue Devil in double figures with 18 points. DuVonte Beard and Andrew Williams each added seven points and seven rebounds while Zion Buckner also had seven points, Solomon Thomas led in assists with four along with six points,
Three-point shooting ultimately was the difference in the outcome, Washburn scoring 27 points on 9-of-22 while KCKCC was just 3-of-14 fir 21.4 percent.
“Still a working process with all these young guys,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “We played harder on defense but could not score the ball.”