BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
Hutchinson (24-7) vs. Pratt (15-16)
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Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team will play the Pratt Beavers for the third time this season on Sunday in the quarterfinal round of the Region VI Tournament.
Hutchinson (24-7) and Pratt (15-16) will play at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Hartman Arena in Park City in the third of four quarterfinal games to be played. The Hutchinson-Pratt winner will play the Colby/Coffeyville winner at 5 p.m. on Monday in the semifinals.
Sunday's game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450.98.5) at 4:50 p.m. with Glen Grunwald (play-by-play) and Rusty Hilst (analysis) calling the action. The game will also be streamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 4:50 p.m.
Hutchinson swept Pratt in the regular season, but neither game has been easy. The Dragons came from behind at the sports Arena on January 19 to defeat Pratt 60-57. The Dragons then battled for a 74-70 victory on February 11 at the Beaverdome.
How close has this series been lately? True, Hutchinson has won nine in a row against the Beavers, but five of those games have been one-possession games and seven have been two-possession games.
In the first meeting of the season at the Sports Arena, Pratt led 55-50 with 3:59 to play in the game. The Dragons rallied and got a D.J. Mitchell NBA-length 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining and adding a pair of free throws with 7 seconds to play, for a come-from-behind 60-57 victory.
Three weeks later at Pratt, Hutch trailed 59-53 with 7:21 left, but tied it at 64 after a James Rojas three-point play with 4:06 to go. A Malique Jacobs tip-in with 2:02 left gave Hutch the lead for good at 70-69.
Sunday's meeting will be the 14th postseason matchup between Hutchinson and Pratt. The Dragons are 11-2 all-time in Region VI meetings with Pratt. The last postseason meeting was the 2014 Region VI Tournament championship game. Pratt upset the Blue Dragons 77-69.
That is the only win for Pratt over Hutchinson in the last 20 meetings. Hutchinson's 145 wins against Pratt are the most against any opponent in Blue Dragon history.
Hutchinson captured its 200th all-time postseason victory on Wednesday in an opening-round 98-88 victory over the Allen Red Devils at the Sports Arena. Jacobs led five Blue Dragons in double figures with 24 points. James Rojas has 21 points and six rebounds. The Blue Dragons were out-shot (46.4 percent to 42.1 percent) and out-rebounded (47-44), but had only nine turnovers to Allen's 17. The Dragons also survived 13 Red Devil 3-pointers.
Pratt was 1 of 2 lower seeds in the men's draw to pull off road wins in the opening round. The Beavers got 20 points from Teddy Fifer and 17 more from Blake Furcron to pull off a 68-56 win on Wednesday at Cloud County. Fifer knocked down 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Defensively, the Beavers held Cloud County to 25.9 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers.