While Allen Community College’s improvement on the basketball court has been noteworthy already, the team had been lacking one notable entry on its resume — winning a close game.
Tuesday’s home affair with Fort Scott took care of that.
The Red Devils fended off the visiting Greyhounds at every corner, emerging from the Allen Gymnasium with an 80-76 victory.
The victory means Allen already has surpassed its win total from last season, in which it won only six games.
Now, Allen (7-4) has shown the mental toughness and confidence to win nailbiters.
“That’s what I told the guys,” ACC head coach Andy Shaw said. “It wasn’t a pretty game, but we made enough plays the last two minutes to make this a good team win.”
Victory wasn’t secured until Fort Scott’s standout guard, Kevin House, was whistled for a charging foul as he scored on a layup with 5 seconds left in the game and the Red Devils were on top by four.
The foul negated the basket and allowed ACC to run out the clock.
Allen’s Alex Keiswetter took the charge, much to Shaw’s pleasure.
“That was a huge play, a winning play,” Shaw said. “That’s what won the game. Alex has always been like that, willing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team. I love that kid.”
There were plenty of other stars.
Allen trailed 24-21 before guards Ben Uno and Tray Fountain keyed a 15-4 run midway through the first half to lead 36-29.
House’s layup and free throw helped cut the gap to 42-38 at the break.
The Greyhounds broke out of the gates quickly after intermission. House scored seven as part of a 12-7 run. His bucket with just under 16 minutes remaining gave FSCC a 48-47 lead. Courtney Stockard’s putback put Allen back in front, 49-48, but House responded with a layup to put the Greyhounds on top again.
Alex Miller sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around two Stockard free throws as part of an 8-0 run to give ACC a 57-50 lead.
Allen never trailed again, but still had to sweat through several close calls.
A pair of Prince Samuels free throws pulled Fort Scott to within 66-65 before Fountain hit a free throw and Stockard scored on a pair of buckets to re-establish a 71-65 lead.
The lead ballooned to eight, 75-67, before Fort Scott’s final charge, aided in part by two straight Red Devil turnovers.
The lead was 77-72 when House got loose inside for a basket with 1:25 left. The Red Devils’ next turnover led to two more House free throws. The Red Devils were unable to successfully inbound the ball, giving the Greyhounds possession again. House scored his sixth-straight point on two more charities, cutting the lead to 77-76.
But Allen broke the Greyhound press on its next possession, leading to a Raheem Tyner layup with 34 seconds remaining.
The Greyhounds’ C.J. Hall was just long on a 3-pointer on Fort Scott’s next possession. Uno rebounded and hit 1 of 2 free throws, for the 80-76 lead. House’s charging call — his fifth foul of the game — effectively ended the contest.
Five Red Devils scored in double figures. Stockard scored 18 points with, while Miller had 13. Uno, Fountain and Tyner each had 12.
“That’s the second straight game Courtney has led us in scoring,” Shaw said. “He’s playing very well. Both Ben and Tray did a good job of making plays, and Alex hit some big shots for us.”
House wound up with 23 points with seven rebounds and seven assists to pace the Greyhounds. Samuels followed with 14 points and Hall wound up with 11.
“We knew House was a good player who likes to get out and run and get his way to the line,” Shaw said. “A win like this is good for us, particularly after our game last week against Hutchinson, when we didn’t have a lot of energy. We had a lot more energy tonight.”
The Red Devils travel to Hesston Saturday.
Fort Scott (38-38—76)
Allen (42-38—80)
Fort Scott (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): House 4/1-12-5-23, Harrington 2-1-3-5, Johnson 1/2-0-0-8, Samuels 6-2-2-14, Parker 0-0-2-0, McCormack 1/1-2-1-7, Jolly 1-1-1-3, Rowe 0-0-1-0, Hall 1/3-0-3-11, Gabriel 2-1-3-5. TOTALS: 18/7-19-21-76.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 5-2-3-12, Fountain 5-2-4-12, Stockard 5/1-5-2-18, Sweet 1-0-3-2, Keiswetter 1-1-4-3, Miller 2/3-0-2-13, Jones 2-2-0-6, Watson 1-0-2-2, Tyner 5-2-3-12. TOTALS: 27/4-14-23-80.
Allen holds off Fort Scott
