Allen Community College started its key Jayhawk Conference showdown with visiting Independence well enough Monday.
Tyrone Jones drilled his first 3-pointer of the evening, the Red Devils were solid on defense and Courtney Stockard’s putback five minutes into the contest put ACC on top, 10-4.
“We were playing OK,” head coach Andy Shaw said. “But boy did it go downhill in a hurry.”
The visiting Pirates scored eight straight to take a 12-10 lead. The Red Devils tied the score before Independence’s J.R. Owens gave the visitors the lead for good 10 seconds later with a 3-pointer, 15-12.
The spurt was part of a 19-4 Independence run that gave the Pirates full control of an 80-62 victory.
The loss drops ACC to 3-3 in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play and 15-9 overall. Independence remains on top of the division standings at 5-1 (14-10 overall).
“Hopefully, this was a one-time deal,” Shaw said. “Hopefully we got this one out of our system. I told the guys afterward that every team has a game where they don’t play well. We’ll see if this was ours.”
Not much went right for Allen from start to finish. The Red Devils shot a frigid 35 percent from the floor, including 2 of 19 from 3-point range. Allen also hit only 14 of 26 free throws.
“You’re not even giving yourself a shot when you shoot like that,” Shaw said. “Whatever ‘it’ is, we didn’t have it tonight.”
Independence stretched its advantage to 45-26 by halftime, then opened the second period with a 6-0 run to lead by 25.
Stockard hit a pair of free throws with 5:26 remaining to cut the deficit to 70-55, and Allen twice had opportunities to cut the gap further, but came up empty on both possessions.
The Pirates scored four straight to push back to a 74-55 lead with 3:35 remaining.
The Red Devils twice were called for technical fouls in the second half, once on Shaw for arguing a call, and another on Stockard after he was fouled with 7:24 remaining.
Shaw declined to say much about the officiating, offering only that “I disagreed with some of the calls.”
Stockard and Jones shared scoring honors for the Red Devils with 13 points apiece. Raheem Tyner added eight points and five rebounds. Josh Sweet had two assists and two steals.
“They did a nice job inside of bottling up Raheem,” Shaw said. “They did a nice job on everybody.”
Brandon Roark led Independence with 17 points. Tarik Phillip added 15, while Owens had 13 and Jerry Melton scored 11.
The Red Devils have parted ways with guard Alex Miller, Shaw said. Miller was Allen’s second leading scorer at 13 points a game. He also was Allen’s leading 3-point shooter. No reason was given.
Allen resumes play Wednesday at Cowley before returning home Saturday to face Butler.
Independence (45-35—80)
Allen (26-36—62)
Independence (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Owens 2/1-5-2-13, Ikuenobe 2-0-3-4, Melton 3/1-2-1-11, Roark 4/1-6-4-17, Duplessis 3-2-1-8, Covington 0-0-2-0, Jappa 3-2-2-8, Phillip 5/1-2-3-15, Hoffmeister 0-0-2-0, Alston 0-2-0-2, Jackson 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 23/4-22-21-80.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 1-2-1-4, Burnes 1-0-0-2, Wesley 2-1-2-5, Fountain 2-1-1-5, Sluder 3-0-5-6, Stockard 2-7-3-13, Sweet 0/1-1-3-4, Keiswetter 0-0-1-0, Jones 4/1-2-3-13, Watson 1-0-1-2, Tyner 4-0-4-8. TOTALS: 21/2-14-22-62.
Allen men fall in key conference showdown
