BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
No. 12 Hutchinson (14-2, 7-0) at Northwest Tech (9-7, 1-6)When: Monday, January 14, 2019 |
Blue Dragon Sports Information
The No. 12-ranked Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team makes its longest road trip of the season on Monday traveling for the first time to Goodland to meet the Northwest Kansas Tech Mavericks.
Game time is 8:30 p.m. (CT) at Max Jones Fieldhouse in Goodland. The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and on sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) at 8:20 p.m. with Glen Grunwald (play by play) and Daren Dunn (analysis) calling the action. The game will also be videostreamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network beginning at 8:20 p.m.
Monday's matchup will be just the fourth between Hutchinson and Northwest Tech, a program that started in the 2012-13 season. Hutch has won all three previous meetings, the last coming on December 5, 2014. The Blue Dragons have never played in Goodland.
Two of those previous meetings came in the Region VI Tournament. The in the 2013 Region VI Tournament opening round, Northwest Tech pushed then No. 5 Hutch with 11 3-pointers in a 90-82 Hutch win. The Dragons defeated Northwest Tech 92-81 in the 2014 Region VI Tournament semifinals.
The Blue Dragons (14-2, 5-2 Jayhawk West) will have just a 48-hour turnaround time to prepare for the Mavericks, who joined the Jayhawk Conference as a full member this season. Hutchinson got a huge second-half performance from freshman Saquan Singleton on Saturday in an 85-76 victory at the Sports Arena. Singleton scored a career-high 21 points with all 21 coming in the second half, including 17-straight points he scored himself.
The Mavericks enter play on Monday on a six-game losing streak, including an 85-83 loss at Allen last Wednesday. Tech, which had its bye week on Saturday, is 9-6 overall and 1-6 in conference play.
Northwest Tech averages 80.8 points per game, while allowing 75.1 points per contest. The Mavericks are allowing 84.3 points and opponents are shooting 44.3 percent in conference games.
The Blue Dragons will have to defend the Nos. 4 and 5 leading scorers in the Jayhawk Conference in Northwest Tech's Miles Gibson and Chris Freeman. Gibson is averaging 18.3 points per game and Freeman is at 17.3 points per game. Gibson is also third in the KJCCC in rebounding at 8.5 boards per game.
The Blue Dragons are six wins away from becoming the first NJCAA program to 1,800 all-time wins. Blue Dragon head coach Steve Eck is four wins away from his 600th victory as a junior college coach.
After Monday, the Blue Dragons continue their busy week with back-to-back home games against Garden City on Wednesday and Pratt on Saturday.
Monday's game against Northwest Tech begins a 14-game run against Jayhawk West teams. The rematch with the Mavericks comes on February 6 at the Sports Arena.