Pirates hold off Red Devils

In a Jayhawk Eastern Division skirmish, Allen County Community College’s Red Devils weren’t able to upend Independence Community College’s Pirates.
The Red Devils battled to a 67-67 tie with 1:45 left in Saturday’s home game. Two missed free throw attempts by Jason Smith, who had kept ACCC in the game, left it tied 30 seconds later.
The dagger came when the Pirates’ Anthony Downing drilled a three-pointer from the corner. Independence had just called a timeout to avoid a five-second call under its basket.
The inbounds pass went to Downing who hit the shot.
Smith sank two free throws with 37.8 seconds making it 70-69. Then it was Downing again.
After missing two free throws, Downing came away with the rebound and was fouled. He was 2 of 9 from the line until he sank two charities with 20.8 seconds on the game clock.
Skyler Hall swiped Allen County’s inbound pass but missed two charities. The Red Devils still had a chance to tie the game.
“We’re just not mentally tough enough. We made too many mental mistakes tonight,” said Anwar Perry, ACCC head coach.
Independence’s John Schneider stole the basketball from Iola leading to a final bucket by Thomas Staton. The Pirates improved to 7-1 in Jayhawk East play with a 74-69 win and 15-5 overall.
The Red Devils fell to 2-6 in conference play and 5-14 overall.
“We didn’t take care of the basketball at critical times. We battled with them keeping them around their average for hitting threes (eight),” Perry said.
The game was close throughout. Down 18-14, Smith, who finished with 23 points, had three consecutive baskets and Thomas Daniel scored a bucket.
Allen County was up 22-18 with 9:30 left in the first half. Independence came back to lead 35-32 at halftime.
Daniel and Rickey Hollis each had 15 points for Allen County. The Red Devils hit 11 of 21 free throw attempts.
Downing ended up with 21 points and Kris Gulley had 24 for the Pirates. Thomas Staton added 11.
Allen County (32-37—69) (FG/3-pt): Hollis 6/1-0-3-15, Smith 8-7-3-23, Tukes 1/1-1-2-6, Kelly 1-0-5-2, Shears 3-2-4-8, Benton 0-0-1-0, Daniel 7-1-4-15. TOTALS: 26/2-11-22-69.
Independence (35-39—74) (FG/3-pt): Tate 1-0-1-2, Downing 4/3-4-3-21, Gulley 9/1-3-1-24, Staton 2/2-1-3-11, Hinton 0-0-2-0, Adams 0-2-1-2, Hall 0/2-0-1-6, Schneider 3-2-4-8. TOTALS: 19/8-12-16-74.