Colby men top Allen in semester finale

In the last game before the winter break, four Trojans scored in double figures Sunday as the Colby Community College men's basketball team picked up a 76-70 win over Allen Community College at the Colby Community Building. 

It was the type of contest Trojans Head Coach Rusty Grafel had been wanting to see from his team.

"This game was a breath of fresh air for us," he said. "It's our last game of the semester and one we needed going into the break. I think we are getting close to playing a 40-minute game with this effort."

Each team held leads in the first half before the Trojans, now 7-6 overall and 2-2 in the Jayhawk Conference, went up 34-27 at the 3:55 mark and led 40-31 at the break.

"Offensively, we were able to start the game with good runs and the most important run being at the beginning of the second half, which we haven't done yet."

CCC opened the second half on an 11-5 run to lead 51-36. The margin remained around 11 until the Red Devils began a run of their own with 5:25 left. Four straight points by Malik Hardmon and a three by Trez Hankins cut the deficit to 67-63. But a bucket by Eddie Davis with the shot clock winding down and a blocked shot by Bryce Hatten that led to an easy basket helped Colby regain the momentum.

"I thought our guard play was good and set the tone on the defensive end," Grafel said. "We have to understand how important each game is and the separation we need to make with wins like this! If we can do that we will continue to get better!" 

Davis led all scorers with 19 points. Craig Beaudion added 16 points. Colby also got 14 points from Rian Carter and 10 from Ed Oliver-Hampton.

Allen County (10-3, 2-2) was led by Perry Carroll's 17 points and a double-double from Hardmon with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Though the Trojans struggled at the free throw line (13-24) and were out-rebounded 54-48, they limited their turnovers to 12 and shot 41.7 percent from the field.

Colby resumes eastern division conference play in Arkansas City for a 7:30 tip on Jan. 5 with Cowley County (10-4, 2-2).