The Allen Community College men's basketball team needed a win on Wednesday night and faced a tough task with Butler Community College coming to Iola, but behind two of their more experienced players, the Red Devils were able to find a way to beat the Grizzlies, 85-76.

Sophomore wings Jah-Kobe Womack and DaRon Mims spearheaded the Red Devil offense and each scored 20 points.

"It was big for us," Womack said. "On our home floor with our fans, coach just told us to come out strong and that's what we did."

Womack made an instant contribution off the bench in the first half with the Red Devils clinging to a 14-13 lead, Womack entered the game as part of a four guard lineup and supplied just what Allen coach Andy Shaw wants his sixth man to provide: instant offense.

"When we do that, it is a pretty dynamic lineup," Shaw said. "That gives us a lot of firepower out there.

"Jah-Kobe could be a starter, but I like thatwe can put him in off the bench. He is that firepower and is very capable of putting up big numbers in a hurry."

Womack hit back-to-back threes to put the Red Devils up by seven.

Womack drove the lead to double figures late in the first half as he crossed-over his defender twice at the top of the key and then lined up a three with the defender recovering and swished it to make it 40-30.

"We had better energy from the get go," Shaw said. "We put together a complete game."

The Red Devils were still up by 10 early in the second half when Butler mounted a 6-0 run to cut the lead down.

Mims - who sat for much of the first half due to two early fouls - quickly responded with a three to ignite a quick run which included baskets from Shon Sanders, E.J. Garnes and Womack to push the lead back to nine.

"I tried to get back into a good rhythm, because when I had foul trouble, our other guys stepped up," Mims said. "I'm very confident as the season goes on, I feel like I need to be more of a leader. When the ball is in my hands, I need to be ready to make plays." 

After 6-11 Grizzlies' center Kenneth Perkins scored, another Womack three pushed the margin back to 10 with 11:35 left.

The lead eventually grew to 69-52 on a Mims three-point play followed by another Womack basket.

Strong free throw shooting by Quentin Blaue, Beau Shockley and Mims sealed the game late and a big Shockley dunk in the final minute put an exclamation point on the win.

Joining Womack and Mims in double figures were Garnes and Blaue with 10 a piece. Garnes also had seven assists.

Butler was led by LaJuan Hardy with 27 points from his point guard spot.

Wednesday represents the first win that Shaw has collected over Butler in his five years at the helm of the Red Devils.

"That was a nice one to finally get to check off the list," Shaw said.