Allen Men's Basketball earned a sweep over Independence CC on Saturday evening, defeating the Pirates by a score of 78-71. Allen had struggled shooting the basketball in their previous two outings, but Allen shot the ball much better in their win over Independence. Allen jumped out to an early lead in the first half, but the Pirates would make a push midway through the half and stole the lead. The Red Devils kept battling and got some defensive stops to end the half with 34-29 lead at the break. Jermaine Long led the Red Devils in scoring with 18 points even though he got in early foul trouble and had to sit the bench for a big stretch in the first half. Quentin Blaue shot the ball well from the perimeter, making some big 3's in the first half to help Allen separate from the Pirates.
Long made several big 3 point attempts in the second half to keep a steady lead for the Red Devils, and also converted on 6 of 8 attempts from the free-throw line. Kyle Hultgren provided some huge minutes for the Red Devils and battled inside against the Independence forwards. Hultgren grabbed 7 rebounds for Allen, including a big offensive rebound and score late in the game. The Red Devils led by as many as 13 points in the final 5 minutes, but Independence made some big 3's to cut the lead. Allen found a way to get a big road win at the end.
Quentin Blaue scored 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the 3 point line, and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line. Darnell Jones-Bowie scored 13 points and dished out 7 assists. Jameel Henson scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds for the Red Devils.
Allen picked up their 15th win of the season on Saturday, and will wrap up the regular season with a home game against Neosho at 8:00 PM on Monday evening.