The Allen Red Devils returned from the winter break with a matchup against top 25 ranked Hutchinson Community College and lost by the score 86-102. In the early going the Red Devils offense was very effective and midway through the first half the Red Devils grabbed a 5 point lead at 23-18 and forced Hutchinson to call timeout. From that point on the Blue Dragons went on a big run and held Allen scoreless for nearly 6 minutes of game play. Hutchinson extended their lead to 10 before the Red Devils scored again, and the Blue Dragons ended up taking an 11 point lead into the halftime break 47-36.
In the second half the Red Devils offense started out hot, but Allen could not seem to get many defensive stops so Hutchinson kept the lead at double figures. The teams would go back and forth on mini runs, but the Red Devils never were able to get enough defensive stops to get close to the Blue Dragons. Hutchinson shot a very impressive 60% for the game, while the Red Devils shot 35% for the game. One stat that kept the Red Devils close at times was the offensive rebounds. Allen grabbed 21 offensive rebounds for the game.
In the end the Blue Dragons were too much for the Red Devils. Malik Hardmon led the way in scoring for Allen with 20 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the floor. Perry Carroll scored 18 points and dished out 5 assists. Darius Love scored 17 points and had 4 assists, and Trez Hankins was the only other Red Devil in double digits with 16 points.
Allen is now 11-4 on the season and 3-3 in KJCCC play. Allen will host Northwest Tech on Wednesday January 9th at 8:00 PM for their next conference game.