Alan Hoskins, Supervisor of Public Information
Thursday, January 28, 2010
College Advancement
Playing on the road in the Jayhawk Conference is tough enough. Playing at the conference power is even more difficult as Kansas City Kansas Community College learned at Cowley County Wednesday night.
Cowley’s men (8-1) stayed a half-game ahead of the field with an 81-71 win while the Lady Tigers (7-2) stayed within a game of the league lead by rallying for a 57-33 triumph.
Still on the road Saturday afternoon at Fort Scott, the Blue Devils return home Monday hopeful of avenging two narrow losses in the conference openers in early December. Monday’s games are at 5 and 7 p.m.
Down 42-31 at halftime and trailing by as many as 19 in the second half, the Blue Devil men staged a furious rally to pull within six points only to miss a dunk shot that would have cut the deficit to four with 1:50 remaining. The loss dropped KCKCC to 15-5 overall and 3-5 in the Jayhawk.
Derick Denny led all scorers, netting 7 of 11 three-pointers in a 24-point performance before fouling out while Melvin Gatson had a career high 10 assists. Scott Fruehling added 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting while Dennis Tinnon scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds despite playing only seven minutes of the first half because of fouls. KCKCC shot 51.9 percent for the game including 10 of 19 three-pointers after going 1-for-17 at Johnson County Saturday but the Blue Devils were also guilty of 22 turnovers.
The Blue Devil women stung Cowley with a 22-19 halftime lead but could manage only 3 of 14 second half shots (.214) and were outscored 38-11. Alyssa Rushton scored 11 points but no other Blue Devil scored more than four. Led by Sarah Craft’s 10 rebounds, KCKCC stayed even 30-30 on the boards only to be done in by 27 turnovers. The loss dropped KCKCC to 2-6 in the conference and 11-8 overall.