Alan Hoskins
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
College Advancement
Clutch free throwing and a stingy defense were more than enough for the Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas Community College to overcome a rash of injuries in a 74-59 win at Labette Saturday night.
Sophomore Melvin Gatson provided the free throws, hitting 11 of 12 down the stretch after the Cardinals had rallied from a 36-30 halftime deficit to trail by one with seven minutes to go while the defense limited Labette to 6 of 30 second half shots (20 percent) and just 2 of 15 from 3-point range (.133).
The victory pushed the Blue Devils (5-11) a half-game ahead of Fort Scott in the race for sixth place in the Jayhawk East heading into an important showdown at Fort Scott Wednesday at 5 and 7 p.m.
The win also gave KCKCC a split as Labette’s women remained in a first place tie in the East with a 78-50 win in the opener. Both teams will close out regular season play Saturday when they host Coffeyville’s league-leaders in both divisions at 2 and 4 p.m.
Gatson paced the Blue Devils with 17 points and five assists while Jack Shortell had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Derrick Denny 9 points and Travis Fairley, Jonathon Wright and Matt Cauquelin 8 each. The Blue Devils also got seven rebounds from Andre Metoyer and six each from Fairley and Gatson as they dominated the rebounding 38-24.
“We defended real well in the second half and Melvin stepped up at the free throw line after we started out making only 3 of our first 11 free throws,” said KCKCC Coach Jon Oler, who lost assist leader Derrick Howard to a slight shoulder separation in the first half and Denny eight minutes of the second half with a cut over one eye.
The KCKCC women dug themselves a 36-17 halftime deficit with 18.2 percent shooting (6 of 33) in falling to 11-17 overall and 4-12 in the conference. Shannon Carlin had nine points, Kristian Dobbs and Ashleigh Gallio seven and Cameron Roland and Kelsey Stanbrough six each for KCKCC.