Coffeyville topples Red Devil men

Andy Shaw is well aware of the “dangerous trend” his Allen Community College Red Devil squad is following.
For the third time in four games — and third straight time at home — Allen has started slowly, fallen behind by double digits by the midpoint of the first half, and fallen short in a spirited second-half comeback.
Wednesday’s pattern, and subsequent 84-67 loss, came at the hands of the visiting Coffeyville Red Ravens.
The defeat drops Allen to 15-12 overall and at the bottom of a cluster of teams in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division at 3-6. Coffeyville improves to 20-7 in overall and 6-3 in conference play.
“We have to stop putting ourselves in those positions,” Shaw said. “We’re exerting too much energy trying to come back. You’re not going to win many games playing that way.”
Coffeyville took full control with a 16-4 run midway in the first half to lead 25-10. A pair of Earl Peterson 3-pointers near the 10-minute mark of the half put the Ravens in front by double digits for good.
The Red Devils stayed within shouting distance from there, pulling to within 52-42 on Raheem Tyner’s bucket at the 15:11 mark of the second half. But Coffeyville had a parry for every Allen thrust.
Allen came up empty on five straight subsequent possessions as the Ravens re-extended their lead to 60-42 when Montel James hit a pair of free throws with 10:16 remaining.
Tyner, who wound up with a game-high 24 points, drained two free throws, as did Courtney Stockard, to close the deficit to 70-59 with 4:20 remaining. Allen then forced a turnover, but an outlet pass to the Red Devils’ Josh Sweet sailed over his head and out of bounds, ending the scoring threat.
Coffeyville responded with four straight points to effectively put the game out of reach.
“We just didn’t make enough plays to complete the comeback,” Shaw said. “The hustle was there. The effort was there.”
Tyner kept Allen afloat in the first half, scoring 12 of the Red Devils’ 26, as Coffeyville raced to a 21-point half-time lead.
“Raheem did a nice job for us,” Shaw said. “Tyrone Jones (13 points) played better, and Tray (Fountain, 14 points) and Courtney (10) hit some big shots in the second half. But outside of those four guys, the rest of the team had four points. That’s not going to get it done.”
Tyner also led Allen with eight rebounds. Fountain dished out five assists. Sweet had four steals.
Four Coffeyville players also reached double figures, led by Peterson with 23. James had 17, Mike Martin 13 and Carl Crawford 11.
Allen gets a week off before hosting Neosho next Wednesday.
“We’ve played a lot of basketball in a short period of time,” Shaw said, noting Wednesday was the team’s fourth game in eight days. “This will give us a good chance to get a good week of practice and refocus. All the good teams have to fight through adversity at some point, and I think we will, too.”
Coffeyville (46-38—84)
Allen (26-41—67)
Coffeyville (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Ellison 2-5-3-9, Martin 1/3-2-0-13, Britt 1-2-4-4, Peterson 4/4-3-4-23, Crawford 1-9-2-11, Kyles 0-2-1-2, Norman 0-0-1-0, Thomas 0-0-1-0, James 5-7-0-17, Gates 2-1-3-5. TOTALS: 16/7-31-21-84.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 0-2-1-2, Wesley 1-0-0-2, Fountain 5/1-1-2-14, Sluder 1-0-3-2, Stockard 1/1-5-3-10, Sweet 0-0-1-0, Keiswetter 0-0-4-0, Jones 4-5-5-13, Watson 0-0-3-0, Tyner 10-4-3-24. TOTALS: 22/2-17-26-67.