Pirates pull away from Allen men

For a good portion of the first half, Allen Community College’s strategy was working perfectly. Visiting Independence Community College had brought its high-octane offense to the ACC gym,  but the Red Devils had largely neutralized ICC’s attack.
“We knew they were going to run their ‘five-out’ motion offense, and I thought the guys did a  good job of jumping out to the ball,” Red Devil coach Andy Shaw said. “The guys were following the scouting reports.”
That changed in a hurry.
After going scoreless for nearly seven minutes earlier in the half, the Pirates scored 17 in a two-minute stretch to turn a 25-21 deficit into a 38-29 lead.
Independence then opened the second half with a 10-0 run to push its advantage to 48-36. Allen never recovered in an 80-67 loss.
The defeat was the second in a row to start Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play for Allen (4-10), which travels to Fort Scott Saturday to play its first road game since Nov. 13.
“We buckled under their pressure,” Shaw said. “After doing so well defensively, we reverted back to things we didn’t want to do.”
Independence guard TraVaughn White was there to seemingly answer every Red Devil challenge throughout the second half.
White poured in 24 second-half points, preventing Allen from getting within seven points of the lead down the stretch.
It was White’s 3-pointer that pushed the Pirates back in front by double digits after Andrew Rountree’s dunk pulled Allen within 59-50 with about 11 minutes left in the game.
It also was White who drained a shot clock-beating 3-pointer with about a minute left, again to prevent any hope for a Red Devil comeback.
“They made shots, and it wasn’t like they were wide open,” Shaw said. “We were guarding them.”
Allen struggled to score early, trailing 15-4 seven minutes into the game.
The Red Devil defense kept things from getting out of hand, holding Independence scoreless from the 13:08 mark until Christopher Spotser scored from the field with 6:20 left in the half.
Meanwhile, Allen was able to stay within shouting distance courtesy of free throws by Andrew Rountree, Cameron Blue and Ricky Roberts.
Red Devil sophomore reserve Seth Walden’s steal at midcourt led to his layup and free throw, drawing the Red Devils within two, 17-15, with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the half.
DeAndrae Barnette and Bryce Schippers followed with 3-pointers to push Allen in front 25-21 and forcing an Independence timeout.
Then the fireworks began.
Jervon Hooks connected from 3-point range twice in a 40-second span as part of a 17-8 run to give the Pirates the lead for good.
Walden continued to give the Red Devils a spark in the second half. He twice hit 3-pointers, and his steal with 3:29 left in the game led to Rountree’s trey to cut the Independence lead to 72-64.
“I had a feeling Seth was going to give us some good minutes tonight,” Shaw said. “He has been working hard in practice, and tonight he hit some big shots to get us going or keep us going.”
But White was there in short order to restore a double digit lead for the Pirates with a basket at the 3-minute mark.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been on the road,” Shaw said. “Maybe this will do us some good to play in a gym where everybody is against us and we have to stick together to do well.
“We’re 0-2 in conference, but we’re not that far away from being successful,” he continued. “We just have to keep working at it.”
Barnette led the Red Devils with 11 points, followed by Schippers and Blue with 10 apiece. Blue also had 10 rebounds, while Tray Fountain dished out four assists. Blue had three steals and Schippers two.
Spotser added 18 points, while Hooks scored 13 for the Pirates. Oddly, Independence shot at a higher rate from 3-point range (9 of 17) than it did from the free throw line (11 of 22).
Independence (38-42—80)
Allen (33-34—67)
Independence (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jefferson 0-0-1-0, White 10/2-3-4-29, Botts 1/1-2-3-7, Goodwin 1-1-4-3, Spotser 5/2-2-2-18, Roark 0/2-1-2-7, Pegues 1-1-3-3, Hooks 3/2-1-2-13. TOTALS 21/9-11-21-80.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Rountree 2/1-1-3-8, Roberts 1-3-1-5, Fountain 3-0-0-6, Schippers 2/2-0-3-10, Uno 2/1-1-3-8, Barnett 1/2-3-2-11, Blue 4-2-3-10, Walden 1/2-1-0-9. TOTALS: 16/8-11-17-67.