Having the Red Devils’ fate hanging on a pair of free throws isn’t exactly what the team had planned, and it seems Lady Luck wasn’t in their favor. THE FIRST half had the Red Devils down as many as 13, but a rally before the half and into the second put them back in the mix and the lead.
Ja’mill Powell set up at the free throw line for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, down one with no time left on the clock. Some of the ACC players looked away, and others watched with dread as Powell hit both free throws to make the final score 78-77 in NEO’s favor.
A back-and-forth struggle in the second half Thursday night set up the tense ending. With just 16 seconds on the clock and ACC up 77-74, Cody Sluder was called on a foul as Powell put up a 3-point attempt. He missed the first, and hit the next two shots from the line, 77-76 ACC.
“We had some tough calls down the stretch that we have to live with,” Head Coach Andy Shaw said.
Sluder was fouled by an NEO player on the floor. He missed the first of a one-and-one. The opposing team drove down the court, missed a shot, and the ball went out of bounds with six-tenths of a second remaining. The Norse tossed up an inbound prayer, and missed, but the referee called ACC on a foul under the goal, setting up the fateful Powell free throws — much to the home crowd’s dismay.
“We made some good plays late, and we made some bad plays late,” Shaw said.
He said while any loss like Thursday’s is tough on a team, they don’t have time to “pout” before their matchup against Johnson Community College today. But, the experience from a close ending can be beneficial despite the outcome.
“It could help us win a game later on this year,” he said.
“We weren’t locked in defensively,” Shaw said. “We moved to a zone defense and closed the gap.”
Getting hot from the outside doesn’t hurt.
Facing a one-point deficit at the half, 34-33, the Red Devils began to warm up from 3-point range. Numerous outside buckets from Sluder, Courtney Stockard and Josh Sweet kept the Devils in the contest.
But it may have been their downfall as well, Shaw said.
“We took too many perimeter shots, and didn’t get to the foul line enough,” he said. The Red Devils only had four points off of foul shots, compared to NEO’s 20 from the line.
Sweet led the Red Devils with 17 points on the evening, including five 3-pointers. Stockard followed with 13 points, followed by Raheem Tyner with 11.
The Red Devils hit 31 of 77 from the field (40.3 percent), and 11 for 31 from 3-point range (35.5 percent). They hit 4 of 9 from the foul line.
Ja’mill Powell and Igor Ibaka led the scoring onslaught from NEO, with 23 apiece. The Norsemen hit 25 of 61 (41 percent) from field goal range and hit 6 of 14 treys (42.9 percent).
The Red Devils face against Johnson County Community College in Overland Park today at 4 p.m.
NEO A&M 34-44—78
ACC 33-44—77
NEO A&M (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Leach 1/1-5-1-10, Thomas 2-3-1-7, Clemens 0-0-3-0, Frye 5-0-1-10, Green 0/1-0-0-3, Powell 2/4-7-4-23, Ibaka 9-5-2-23. TOTALS: 19/6-20-12-78.
ACC (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Uno 3/1-0-2-9, Fountain 1/1-0-2-5, Sluder 3/1-0-4-0, Stockard 2/2-3-2-13, Sweet 1/5-0-0-17, Keiswetter 2-0-2-4, Jones 2/1-0-0-7, Watson 1-0-2-2, Tyner 5-1-4-11. TOTALS: 20/11-4-18-77.
Red Devils fall in heartbreaker
