ACC comeback bid falls short

A frigid start put Allen Community College behind the 8-ball early Saturday.
Visiting Butler County raced to an 11-3 lead in the first 4 1/2 minutes and held a 20-point cushion by the 7:40 mark of the first half.
The Red Devils made things interesting in the second half, behind the scoring outburst of guard Josh Sweet, but could never regain their footing in a 90-78 loss.
The defeat is the second straight for the Red Devils, who dropped to 3-4 in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play and 15-10 overall.
“We just didn’t play hard enough in the first half,” Allen head coach Andy Shaw said. “We had to fight uphill the entire night. It’s frustrating because the last two games have been so similar.”
The Grizzlies took a 44-23 lead into halftime before Sweet drained a 3-pointer to help kickstart the Red Devil comeback.
Courtney Stockard’s free throws, followed by a 3-point play by Tyrone Jones capped a 5-0 run that pulled Allen to within 11 midway through the second period. Another Stockard layup with 8:42 left cut the deficit to 65-57.
But a pair of Butler offensive rebounds on missed free throws over the next two minutes turned into added second-chance points as the Grizzlies re-extended their lead to 18, 78-60.
“Those hurt,” Shaw said.
Still, Allen wasn’t finished.
Sweet scored four straight points as part of a 10-1 run to cut the deficit to 79-70 with 2:35 left on the clock. Jones’ 3-point play with 44.6 seconds left cut the gap to 83-78, but the Grizzlies hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
“We just made too many mistakes, and only had 20 minutes of good effort,” Shaw said.
Sweet scored 22 of his game-high 33 points after halftime. He hit 10 of 18 field goals and went 10 of 10 from the line.
Stockard followed with 12 points and Jones had 11. Raheem Tyner added five rebounds
Butler had four players in double figures, led by Larry Fitzgerald with 23 points and Sean Goodwin with 20. The Grizzlies shot better from the field (59 percent overall, 53 percent from 3-point range) than from the free throw line (21 of 39 or 53 percent).
“I told the guys after the game that it doesn’t get any easier,” Shaw said. “We’ve got some tough games ahead and we need to snap out of this quick. We need a win in the worst way.”
The Red Devils are at Cowley tonight before hosting Coffeyville  on Wednesday.
Butler (44-46—90)
Allen (23-55—78)
Butler (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Fitzgerald 8/2-5-4-23, Richardson 1/1-1-5-6, Triggs 0-4-4-4, O’Connor 1/2-3-1-11, Burton 0-0-1-0, Wofford-Humphrey 3-1-3-7, Rowell 0-0-1-0, Triggs 4/1-4-3-16, Johnson 0/1-0-2-3, Goodwin 9-2-5-20. TOTALS: 24/7-21-29-90.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 1-2-5-4, Wesley 1-1-2-3, Fountain 1/1-1-5-6, Sluder 2-1-3-5, Stockard 3/1-3-5-12, Sweet 7/3-10-4-33, Keiswetter 0-0-2-0, Jones 3-5-4-11, Watson 0-2-0-2, Tyner 0-2-3-2. TOTALS: 18/5-27-33-78.