By ALAN HOSKINS
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- On a night Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women had their 9-game winning streak come crashing down, the Blue Devil men came up with one of their best performances before falling in a game that went right down to the final shot.
Wentworth Military Academy held off the Blue Devils 52-49 after the Lady Dragons had stunned the KCKCC women with an 83-75 upset Monday night.
The loss left the Lady Blue Devils 16-2 and the men 5-13 heading into a home doubleheader rescheduled Friday against Westminster at 5 and 7 p.m. The twin bill was originally scheduled for Thursday.
Trailing by six points midway through the second half in a game that had four ties and 17 lead changes, the Blue Devil men led 49-46 on two Anthony Ridley free throws with 1:42 left but failed to score again, turning the ball over twice and then missing two game-tying three-pointers in the final 14 seconds.
Lucas Smith led the Blue Devils with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Collin Adney added 11 points; Sumner Academy grad Marcus Allen made his KCKCC debut with 10 points; and Ridley scored nine points and handed out six assists.
The Lady Blue Devils self-destructed in the opener, turning the ball over a season high 35 times including 22 in a second half in which they were outscored 49-33. The Blue Devils also made only 8 of 19 free throws although shooting 45.1 percent and dominating the rebounding 58-38.
Comfortably ahead 42-34 at halftime, the Blue Devils were outscored 15-2 to start the second half to fall behind 49-44 and they never led again. Closest KCKCC could get was a 65-65 tie with 5:26 left but Wentworth scored the next five points and finished the game with an 18-10 run.
KCKCC got double doubles from Iland Shurn, 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Bailey West, 14 points and 10 rebounds while Janai Mitchell added 17 points and 9 rebounds and Julia Garrard 13 points and 9 rebounds.
