Hutch takes control late in win

For a 10-minute stretch in the second half, Allen County Community College’s men traded leads like they were baseball cards on the basketball court with Hutchinson Community College.
But ill-timed turnovers haunted the Red Devils from there as Hutchinson held ACCC to a single field goal over a nine-minute stretch in a 70-57 win.
The loss drops Allen County to 0-4 on the season and follows the same agonizing pattern of the team’s first three losses, head coach Anwar Perry said.
“Turnovers did it,” he said. “We only had 14, which is the fewest we’ve had all season, but they came at critical times.”
Hutchinson’s Anthony Thomas drilled a jumper from the free-throw line with 6:58 left in the game to break a 50-50 deadlock. A Blue Dragon steal led to a Thomas layup 50 seconds later, keying a 13-3 run.
Allen County’s Mychael Anderson and Jeff Romeus both had clean looks at three pointers during the stretch, but both times the ball was in and out for Hutchinson to corral the rebound.
Hutchinson also held the early advantage, racing to a 16-7 lead before a pair of emphatic Drelan Tripplett dunks late in the half propelled ACCC’s comeback.
“Hutchinson’s good, and I don’t know if we were intimidated or what at the beginning,” Perry said. “We can’t keep digging ourselves a hole like that. We fought back, but we have to be disciplined.”
Allen County closed the gap to 25-20 at the break. A three-point play by Canon Fields with 15:52 left in the game knotted the score at 31-31. A Terrell Shears trey at 11:45 tied the score again at 40-40.
The Red Devils took the lead for the first time in the second half at the 11:15 mark of regulation when Hutchinson’s Alex Davis was whistled for his  fourth foul, then a technical foul seconds later for complaining. Romeus and Tyrone Jones put the Red Devils on top 44-42.
But, Hutchinson responded to each ACCC bucket with points of its own, a pace the Red Devils couldn’t match. ACCC had possession and the lead only once in the second half, a possession that ended with a turnover.
Romeus led ACCC with 12 points, followed by Anderson and Tripplett with 10 points each. Shears had 13 rebounds. Fields delivered five assists.
The Red Devils shot 37 percent for the game, 16 of 43, and went 20 of 30 from the line. Hutchinson held a 28-21 rebound advantage.
Thomas scored 20 points to lead the Blue Dragons, followed by Mark Braden with 17, A.J. Spencer with 12 and Alex Davis with 11.
Foul trouble plagued both teams. The officials whistled 46 infractions in the contest, and the teams shot a combined 76 free throws.
Allen County returns to action this weekend at home for the Red Devil Classic, hosting Penn Valley Friday evening and Butler County Community College on Saturday. Tipoff for both contests is 8 p.m.
Hutchinson (25-45—70) (FG/3pt): Braden 4/1-6-1-17, Spease 1-1-5-3, Thomas 7-6-4-20, Schultz 1-1-2-3, Bernard 0-2-3-2, Davis 2-7-5-11, Plye 0-0-1-0, Spencer 3-6-1-12, Nunn 1-0-3-2. TOTALS: 19/1-29-25-70.
Allen Co. (20-37—57) (FG/3pt): Romeus 0/2-6-1-12, Fields 3-3-4-9, Hollis 0-1-4-1, Shears 2-1-3-5, Daniel 0-4-4-4, Anderson 1/2-2-3-10, Parker 0-0-1-0, Williams 0-0-2-0, Jones 2-2-4-6, Walden 0-0-1-0, Tripplett 3/1-1-4-10. TOTALS: 11/5-20-31-57.