Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Rheaquone Taylor had a career scoring night and the Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team shot better than 60 percent on Saturday in their final non-conference game of the season.
But the No. 9-ranked Blue Dragons survived a 51-6 differential from the 3-point line to defeat the Hesston College Larks 103-83 and complete the non-conference portion of the season undefeated.
The Blue Dragons improve to 9-0 overall heading to the first Jayhawk Conference test of the season on Wednesday against No. 4 Coffeyville. Hesston College falls to 5-5.
The Blue Dragons move to 16-0 all-time against Hesston College, going 14-0 at the Sports Arena.
Over the first 27 minutes of the game, Hesston stayed within striking distance of the Blue Dragons hitting 14 of its first 29 attempts from distance. When Cal Hartley popped Lark 3-pointer No. 14, Hesston trailed 70-58 with 13:10 remaining.
The Blue Dragons tightened up defensively and Hesston cooled off hitting 3 of its final 11 3-point attempts and then Hutch pounded the ball into the paint as much as possible as the Dragons produced 68 points in the paint to Hesston's 23 and dismantled the Larks on the boards, out-rebounding Hesston 54-19.
The Blue Dragons shot 60.9 percent for the game, hitting 39 of 64 total shots. The Dragons shot 63.2 percent in building a 60-41 lead at halftime.
Hutch was 2 of 10 from 3-point range and 23 of 30 from the free-throw line.
Taylor scored a career-high 20 points on 9 of 12 shooting and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
James Rojas finished with 19 points and nine boards. Saquan Singleton and Boubacar Kammasoko had 13 points each. Kammisoko also had a season-high six rebounds. Malique Jacobs came off the bench to score 12 points, while D.J. Mitchell added 11 points.
The Larks hit 17 of 40 from 3-point range and 28 of 68 overall. The Larks were 10 of 19 from the foul line.
The Blue Dragons also had to endure through a season-worst 21 turnovers.