What appeared to be a road to their first victory of the season became a road block at home for Allen County Community College’s Red Devils. The ACCC men were unable to close the deal against visiting Penn Valley Community College, losing 83-77.
The Red Devils pushed out to a 25-11 lead by the 9:16 mark of the first half. Allen County’s Thomas Daniel had the two opening baskets with Terrell Shears putting the Red Devils up 6-0.
Over the final nine minutes of the first half it was all Scouts. Penn Valley went on a 30-6 run that gave them a 10-point halftime lead, 41-31.
Allen County stayed within striking distance throughout the second half but couldn’t seem to break through the five-to-six-point barrier. Down by 10 again, 73-63, the Red Devils scored four points with no time coming off the clock.
There was 3:11 remaining to play in the game. Keevis Tukes was fouled by Penn Valley’s Rashaad Lucas, which was Lucas’ fifth foul of the game. Lucas was also assessed a technical foul.
Tukes nailed all four free throws to make it a six-point game. But the Red Devils couldn’t come up with a defensive stop.
Penn Valley’s James Lee had back-to-back baskets wiping out the four points ACCC just got at the free-throw line. Jason Smith, who led the Red Devils with 30 points and seven assists, sank two free throws.
The Red Devils made a last-ditch push in the final minute of action. Smith scored and was fouled but missed the free throw. Smith would score twice more in the next 20 seconds.
Penn Valley held off the Red Devils by hitting 2 of 4 free throws and getting a field goal from Denzell Cook.
“We had a good start then…we just don’t have much basketball smarts,” said Anwar Perry, ACCC head coach. “Penn Valley picked us up full court when we had the big lead. When that happened we thought we had to hurry things. We made too many unforced errors.”
Perry said he wasn’t pleased that his team was not playing consistently for 40 minutes. He said they have spurts they play well then “we just don’t play smart basketball. I guess that’s my fault. I need to get them ready to play 40 minutes.”
Perry pointed to Allen County’s inability to hit the three-point field goal, especially Tukes who was 0 of 7 from outside the arc. The Red Devils were 1 of 10 from long range as they were 26 of 51 overall.
Daniel added 18 points for Allen County and Tahshuan Kelly came off the bench to score 11 points. Shears pulled down five of the team’s 20 rebounds.
Penn Valley went 28 of 52, 54 percent, from the field. Cook tossed in 21 points to lead the Scouts with Erick Roe scoring 15 and Lucas 12. Lee and Melvin Tillman each added 10 points.
Allen County (0-5) travel to Sedalia, Mo., this weekend for the State Fair Community College Classic. The Red Devils take on West Plains at 3:30 p.m. Friday then play State Fair at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“This will be a test on the road. West Plains has five players averaging in double figure scoring,” Perry said. “We have to learn to guard one-on-one and play team defense plus sustain our offensive flow.”
Allen County (31-46—77) (FG/3-pt): Smith 8/1-11-1-30, Tukes 1-4-3-6, Myrick 0-0-2-0, Shears 3-0-5-6, Daniel 6-6-2-18, Hollis 1-0-1-2, Kelly 4-3-4-11, Benton 2-0-4-4, McDowell 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 25/1-24-23-77.
Penn Valley (41-42—83) (FG/3-pt): Buban-Cunningham 2-1-1-5, Lee 3-4-3-10, Tillman 3/1-1-3-10, Lucas 3-6-5-12, Cook 3/3-6-1-21, Miller 0-0-4-0, May 2-0-1-4, Mass-Tucker 0-0-1-0, Cloninger 2-1-2-5, Roe 6-3-1-15, Parks 0-1-1-1. TOTALS: 24/4-23-23-83.
Red Devils fall short against Scouts
