BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
No. 25 Hutchinson (15-3, 6-3) at Pratt (10-8, 4-5)When: Saturday, January 18, 2020 |
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team goes after a third-straight victory on Saturday when the No. 25-ranked Blue Dragons close out a two-game road trip at the Pratt Beavers.
Game time at Pratt's Dennis Lesh Sports Arena is 7:30 p.m.
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) beginning at 7:20 p.m. with Glen Grunwald (play-by-play) and Daren Dunn (analyst) calling the action. The game will be streamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 7:20 p.m.
The Blue Dragons won consecutive games for the first time since December 4 after Wednesday's 91-72 victory at Garden City.
Josh Baker broke out of a three-game slump with 24 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range. He scored 16 points in a second half that Hutchinson outscored the Broncbusters 49-33 after leading by three points at halftime.
Tyler Brown scored 16 points, Saquan Singleton had 13 points and Clarence King had 12 points. The Dragons shot 52.5 percent, the 10th time this season Hutchinson has shot 50 percent or better this season.
Pratt is 10-8 overall, going 4-5 in the Jayhawk West so far this season. The Beavers had a two-game win streak snapped on Wednesday after a 68-63 loss at Seward County. The Beavers and Saints were tied at 30 at halftime. Pratt had 12 3-pointers in the game, but shot 33.3 percent overall and had 20 turnovers.
Hutchinson is in third place in the Jayhawk West, just one game behind first-place Barton and one half game behind second-place Colby. Pratt is tied for fourth place with Seward County.
Pratt will likely fire up a lot of 3-pointers, averaging 28.4 attempts from distance per game. The Beavers hit 9.6 3-pointers per game, shooting 33.6 percent.
Saturday's game will be the 171st meeting between Hutchinson and Pratt in a continuous series that started in 1939. The Blue Dragons have more wins over Pratt with an overall series record of 146-24. Hutchinson leads the series in Pratt 66-11. Hutchinson has won 10 games in a row over Pratt, winning all three meetings with the Beavers last season, including a 91-74 Region VI Tournament quarterfinal win in Park City.
Hutchinson counters with the KJCCC's No. 1 defensive field-goal position at 37.7 percent and sixth-best 3-point defensive team at 30.4 percent.
The Blue Dragons wrap up an 11-day stretch with five games played. The Dragons are 3-1 in the first four games with wins over Kansas City, Northwest Tech and Garden City. The only loss was against now No. 13-ranked and current Jayhawk East leader Cowley.