Hutchinson CC Sports Information
LIBERAL – The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team earned a much-needed win Saturday night at Seward County, reversing a recent trend of late-game setbacks.
The Blue Dragons rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, getting a go-ahead Josh Baker 3-pointer with 1:19 to play and held on for a 68-67 victory over the Saints at the Green House.
Hutchinson snaps a two-game losing streak and improves to 17-6 overall and 8-6 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons will travel to Northwest Tech on Wednesday to start the second time through the Jayhawk West. Seward County falls to 13-10 overall and 6-8 in the league.
The Blue Dragons had two significant rallies Saturday night. The Dragons trailed 30-23 in the first half, but rallied to take a 36-35 lead at halftime. Seward County opened the second half on a 12-1 run and led 48-38 with 16:02 to play in the second half. Over the next 11 minutes, Hutchinson outscored Seward County 25-7 to take a 63-55 lead after a Clarence King jumper with 5:24 remaining.
The Dragons still let 65-60 after a Baker tip-in with 3:15 to go. The Saints scored seven unanswered points to take a 67-65 lead after a Stephen Takyi putback with 2:05 to play. Hutch took a 68-67 lead with 1:19 left on Baker's' third 3-pointer of the game, the first of three significant plays Baker made down the stretch.
Baker blocked a Kyle Cardaci attempt with 49 seconds left. The Blue Dragons then fired off three shots on the next possession getting offensive rebounds from Baker and Majok Kuath to keep the possession alive and eat up the clock. Seward's Surakata Jawara rebounded the third missed shot, but immediately traveled, giving the Dragons the ball back with 11.7 seconds to play.
Baker was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds left. The Saints looked to have a wide-open lane to the basket, but Baker dove and deflected the entry pass to the low post out of bounds with 0.3 seconds to play. The Saints got a shot off on the inbound, but it drew iron and fell off as the buzzer sounded.
Baker led the Blue Dragons with 19 points, hitting 3 of 6 from 3-point range. He also had seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
King had a huge game with a career-high 14 points, scoring nine in the second half. His lone 3-pointer game with 5:32 to play in the second half that gave Hutch a 59-54 lead.
D.J. Mitchell was the third Blue Dragon in double figures with 13 points to go with seven rebounds and two assists. Saquan Singleton, Tyler Brown and Kuath all had six points each.
The Blue Dragons were 24 of 54 shooting (44.4 percent), hitting 6 of 19 from 3-point range. The Blue Dragons had a 41-28 rebounding advantage and with only six offensive rebounds allowed, but had to overcome 19 turnovers.
Cardaci had 16 points to lead the Saints. Greg Johnson and Rostyslav Novitskyi had 10 points each.
Seward County shot 39.7 percent (23 of 58), hitting 11 of 30 from 3-point range and 10 of 13 from the free-throw line. The Saints had 14 turnovers.
Baker hit an early 3-pointer for a 13-9 lead with 13:28 to go in the first half. The lead grew to 17-11 on a Jaden Okon layup with 11:03 to play. Seward County rallied with an 11-4 run to take a 22-21 lead with 7:37 to play after an Ahmed Ibraham 3-pointer. The Saints' lead grew to seven after three Cardaci free throws with 4:50 to play in the half.
King started Hutch's first-half comeback with a three-point play with 4:02 to go. That play started a 13-5 Blue Dragon run. Singleton scored with 23 seconds to play to give Hutchinson a 36-32 lead, but the Saints got a Ibraham 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Dragon lead to 36-35 at intermission.
A 12-1 run by the Saints to start the second half had the Blue Dragons teetering. Jawara's 3-pointer with 16:02 left gave Seward County a 48-38 lead.
Five-straight points by Mitchell started a 14-4 run and the Blue Dragons tied the game at 52 on two Kuath free throws with 10:44 to go in the second half. Hutch's run grew to 23-6 when King scored seven consecutive points to help build a 61-54 Dragon lead with 7:59 to go. King scored again with 5:24 to go to give Hutch its largest lead of eight at 63-55 with 5:24 to go.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 77-31 all-time against Seward County, 31-20 at the Green House. … The Blue Dragons snap a three-game losing streak to Seward County. … This was all-time Blue Dragon win No. 1,823. … Saquan Singleton moved into ninth place on the Blue Dragon career assist list, moving past Reggie Morton (1986-88) with 227 assists. … D.J. Mitchell tied Keldrick Brooks for 10th place on the Blue Dragon career 3-point list with 106. … The Blue Dragons are 14-5 when leading at halftime.