After a comeback against the defending champs came up one point short Friday, Allen's Red Devil men responded with their best shooting night of the season in a 92-75 win over Metropolitan Community College Saturday.

After a furious comeback against the defending national champs came up one point short Friday, Allen Community College?s men weren?t much interested in seeing any kind of drama develop a day later.

The Red Devils shot a blistering 11 of 14 from 3-point range Saturday evening to cruise past Metropolitan College, 92-75.

That came after Allen sliced a 13-point deficit to one on Friday evening against National Park in a 77-76 setback.

The games, constituting the Red Devil Classic, were another segment of Allen?s brutal early schedule, which includes multiple NJCAA-Division I schools, the defending NJCAA-II titlists in National Park, and other powerhouses, like Connors State College, which comes to town Tuesday evening.

The tough early stretch is part of head coach Patrick Nee?s strategy to have the Red Devils battle-tested by the time Jayhawk Conference play starts in January.

?We?re getting better,? Nee said, noting Allen remains without one of its primary weapons, sophomore guard Tyler Pinder due to injury. Pinder is due back around Thanksgiving.

?When Tyler gets back, we?ll be ready to roll,? he said.

And after a pair of tough losses to start the season, Allen?s marked improvement has borne out on the hardwood, even without Pinder.

The Red Devils gave Division I power Butler County all it wanted last weekend before nearly storming back to take down National Park?s Nighthawks Friday.

National Park had led from the outset, pushing open a 13-point margin early in the second half, before Allen?s Jevontae Costner and Henri Ray-Young both hit 3-pointers as part of a run to slice Allen?s deficit to 67-61.

The margin yo-yoed between six and eight points over the next few minutes before Ray-Young nailed a long jumper before Schilreff drove in for a layup to pull to within 75-71 with 1:12 left.

But National Park milked the next 30 seconds off the clock before Addison Shelton scored on a putback with 44 seconds left to extend the margin back to 77-71.

Schilreff got two more points back on another driving layup with 29 seconds left. The Red Devils forced a turnover from there, with Schilreff?s 3-pointer in the waning seconds making it a one-point game when the final buzzer sounded.

Schilreff scored 19 points to go with four assists and four steals, Costner had 14 points and Ray-Young scored 11. Tynell Stevenson came off the bench to score 16 and pull down a team-high seven rebounds. Costner added six assists.

SATURDAY had no such late drama.

Schilreff and Costner were hot early, with each hitting 3-pointers as Allen zipped out to a 21-6 lead.

Metropolitan found its footing, paring the deficit to 11 midway through the first half before Allen found its shooting touch again.

Mike Smith?s bucket preceded another Schilreff trey as Allen opened a 45-22 lead late in the half.

Metropolitan responded early in the second half, again cutting the margin to 12 before Schilreff corralled a missed Red Devil free throw and scored inside before Lewis Hill hit from downtown. Schilreff scored on Allen?s next possession and suddenly Allen was ahead 72-53.

The margin grew to as much as 23 down the stretch.

Schilreff was 13 of 18 from the field on his way to a game-high 30, while pulling down nine rebounds. Ray-Young hit 5 of 7 treys as he poured in 22. Costner and Smith added 13 points each. Costner had four assists; Smith had eight rebounds, as did Stevenson. Dirk Johnson also had seven boards.

?We should have won both (Friday and Saturday) but I?ll take the W,? Nee said. ?When we make threes we can beat anyone. We just have to rebound and get to more loose balls.?