Hutchinson CC Sports Information
COLBY – Minus one starter and mired in deep, deep foul trouble through most of the second half, the Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team found a way to earn a Jayhawk West road win on Saturday at Colby.
Freshman Malique Jacobs scored a career-high 26 points and made several critical plays down the stretch to lead the Blue Dragons to a gritty 93-86 victory over the Trojans at the Colby Community Building.
Winners of three-straight games, the Blue Dragons improve to 22-6 overall and solidified their hold on third place in the Jayhawk West at 13-6 after a seasons sweep of Colby. The Trojans fall to 16-11 overall, 11-7 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson plays host to Barton on Wednesday at the Sports Arena.
A little more than 3 minutes into the game, the Blue Dragons lost starting forward Rheaquone Taylor for the rest of the game to an injury. Then the Dragons got into massive foul trouble. With 6 minutes to play in the game, Saquan Singleton, Tyler Brown and Chris Giles all had four fouls and James Rojas had three.
With 7:01 to play in the second half, the Blue Dragons trailed 71-69. The Blue Dragons were impressive from that point.
The Blue Dragons scored on seven-straight possessions down the stretch as Hutchinson outscored Colby 26-17 to erase that deficit. Jacobs had seven points, three assists and two steals to lead the Dragons in that final stretch. Rojas had six points and Brown had five, including a dagger 3-pointer that gave the Blue Dragon an 80-74 lead with 3:56 to go.
Over the final 7 minutes, the Blue Dragons were 9 of 10 shooting overall with the Brown 3-pointer and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Hutch dished out seven assists on those nine makes. Trailing 37-36 at halftime, Hutchinson outscored Colby 57-49 in the second half.
Jacobs' career-high 26 points came on 10 of 18 shooting with a career-best seven assists and four steals.. Jacobs had 16 points in the second half to spark a 66-27 scoring advantage for Hutch off the bench.
Rojas finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. He was 7 of 11 shooting with a 3-pointer and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. D.J. Mitchell had 15 points. Singleton and Giles had eight points each.
The Blue Dragons shot 52.5 percent overall (32 of 61), hitting 4 of 11 3-poiners and 25 of 36 from the free-throw line. The Dragons outrebounded Colby 41-31.
Despite the foul trouble, no Blue Dragons fouled out of the game.
Hutchinson was outshot in the game. Colby shot 54.5 percent for the game (34 of 62). The Trojans were 5 of 18 from 3-point range and 13 of 27 from the free-throw line.
Rian Carter had 19 points to lead Colby. Eddie Davis had 18 and Craig Beaudoin had 16 points and five assists.
The game featured 13 lead changes and 11 ties. Colby's largest lead was six at 2:29 to play in the first half after a 4-point play by Eric Turner. The Dragons fought back and got a Singleton tip-in with 38 seconds left to pull within 37-36 at halftime.
Colby led 47-42 after a Carter steal and dunk with 16:03 left. Hutch went on a 10-4 run and took a 52-51 lead on Rojas' 3-pointer with 12:11 to go. Colby took a 69-67 lead with 7:01 left after a Javion May layup.
Tied at 71, the Blue Dragons took the lead for good on a Mitchell jumper and Jacobs layup for a 75-71 lead with 4:54 to play. Singleton's fastbreak layup with 3:08 left upped the lead to eight at 84-76. Colby's Turner countered with a 3-pointer, but two free throws and later a layup by Rojas boosted the lead to 90-81 with 30 seconds to play.
GAME NOTES – Hutchinson earned its 50th all-time win in 54 overall games with Colby. … This was Blue Dragon all-time win 1,802. … Rojas posted his ninth 20-point game this season. … Hutch has shot 50 percent or better in 6 of the last 8 games. … The Dragons are 7-4 on the road this season when trailing at halftime and 3-4 when outshot by an opponent this season.