CONCORDIA — The sneaker was on the other foot Wednesday.
Finally.
After losing repeated buzzer-beaters early in the season, Allen Community College’s basketball team wound up on the winning side of a nailbiter for once.
Red Devil freshman Nick Whittick banked in the game-winner with 1.8 seconds left, lifting ACC to a 72-70 victory over Cloud County Community College.
The victory put a dramatic stop to what had been a 10-game losing streak.
The game was a wild back-and-forth affair, with each team going on extended runs throughout.
Cloud had the early advantage before ACC put together a 10-2 run to lead 24-17.
Then, after the Thunderbirds clawed back within 27-26, Allen ended the half on a 10-2 run and led 36-28.
The second half was more of the same, before it looked like ACC had put things in control. Amadou Traore’s layup with 11:34 left pushed the Red Devil advantage to 56-40.
But, as happened before several times, the momentum shifted in a big way.
Cloud put together an 18-1 run over the next 5 minutes to lead 58-47.
Cloud pushed ahead by four before ACC scored seven straight to lead 70-68 with 1:53 left.
The T-Bird knotteds the score at 70-70 on a David Acosta Dunk with just over a minute left.
Both teams missed in their next possession. Traore rebounded a Cloud County miss with 16 seconds left.
The Red Devils called timeout, setting up their final possession. Whittick took advantage of a hall ball screen to put up his driving layup for the game-winner.
Cloud put up a half-court prayer, but the ball bounced off the backboard as time expired.
