The Hesston College men’s basketball team gave up too many runs to Northern Oklahoma-Enid, falling to the Jets 78-58 Friday in the American Family Insurance-Greg Raleigh Agency Thanksgiving Classic at Yost Center in Hesston.
The Larks have a two-game winning streak snapped, falling to 4-6. NOE improves to 8-2.
“We have to value the basketball,” Hesston coach Dustin Galyon said. “We have to box out on the boards like it’s life or death. That’s a very good team we played. They are very well coached. I have a lot of respect for that group. That said. We couldn’t throw it in the ocean. We took good shots. We just couldn’t connect. We had three starters out. We need to get healthy, and we need other guys to step up.”
NOE was led by Ben Smith with 23 points and Earl Ruffin with 10.
Hesston was led by freshman Devin Lloyd with 25 points, followed by Rickey Vick with 16. Lloyd hit seven of 11 from the field and seven of eight from the line. He hit four of eight 3-point shots.
“He’s that type of player,” Galyon said. “He’s capable of doing that every night of the week, period. He played hard on both ends. We’ve got to find a way to get him shots.”
Hesston jumped out 10-4 early, but NOE replied with a 12-2 run. Lark turnovers down the stretch allowed the Jets to finish the half on a 25-9 run capped by a Mychael Hern trey at the buzzer, putting NOCE up 41-27.
Hesston had 14 turnovers in the first half to six for the Jets.
The Larks trailed by as many as 21 in the second half and got as close as 13 on a Tyler Mitchem layup, followed by a pair of Lloyd free throws after a NOE technical. The Jets pulled away again down the stretch.
Hesston concludes the classic at 8 p.m. today against Labette County Community College.
“We have another big one tommorrow,” Galyon said. “We have to play just as hard.”
NORTHERN OKLAHOMA-ENID (8-2) — Cungious 2-6 0-2 4, B.Smith 8-11 5-7 23, Simmons 1-7 2-2 4, Hearn 2-5 1-2 6, S.Smith 2-8 1-2 5, Ruffin 4-6 0-0 10, Guillory 0-0 1-2 1, Grant 4-8 0-0 9, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Howard 1-3 4-6 7, Patterson 1-4 0-0 3, Cravens 1-3 0-0 2, Candyfire 2-6 0-0 4, TOTALS 28-67 14-22 78.
HESSTON (4-6) — Lloyd 7-11 7-8 25, Clemens 0-7 0-0 0, Vick 6-14 2-2 16, Roth 1-8 0-0 2, Ensz 0-0 0-0 0, Troyer 0-1 0-1 0, Sorrells 3-3 0-0 6, Krahn 1-1 0-0 2, Crawford 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchem 2-6 0-0 4, Baker 0-1 0-0 0, Uhles 0-1 3-6 3, TOTALS 20-53 12-17 58.
No.Okla.-E. 41 37 —78
Hesston 27 31 —58
Total fouls — NOE 22, HC 18. Technical fouls — NOE: bench. Fouled out — HC: Sorrells. 3-point shooting — NOE 8-20 (B.Smith 2-3. Hearn 1-4, S.Smith 0-2, Ruffin 2-4, Grant 1-3, Howard 1-1, Patterson 1-3), HC 6-22 (Lloyd 4-8, Clemens 0-3, Vick 2-5, Roth 0-3, Mitchem 0-1, Baker 0-1, Uhles 0-1). Rebounds — NOE 34 (S.Smith 6), HC 32 (Ensz 8). Assists — NOE 9 (Hearn 4), HC 13 (Vick 3). Turnovers — NOE 11 (B.Smith 3), HC 20 (Roth 5). Blocked shots — NOE 3 (three with 1), HC 3 (Ensz 3). Steals — NOE 16 (B.Smith 6), HC 4 (four with 1).
