BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
Hutchinson (22-8) vs. Allen (16-14)
|
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team opens its 65th Region VI Tournament on Wednesday against the Allen Red Devils.
Tipoff for the opening-round game featuring the No. 8 overall seed Blue Dragons and No. 9-seed Red Devils is at 7 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) at 7:20 p.m. with Glen Grunwald (play-by-play) and Dan Naccarato (color) calling the action. The game will also be streamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 6:50 p.m.
The Blue Dragons drew the No. 8 overall tournament seed after posting a 22-8 record in the regular season. The Dragons enter the postseason winning 5 of their last six games after going 6-7 in the previous 13 games.
The Red Devils are the ninth seed at 16-14. The Devils finished fifth in the Jayhawk East and endured a five-game losing streak late in the season. Allen snapped that skid with a 93-92 win at Neosho County on Saturday.
Hutchinson lost the only meeting of the season with Allen, falling 87-80 on January 4 at the Sports Arena. The Red Devils jumped in the NJCAA poll off that win, but have gone 5-10 since defeating Hutchinson.
Blue Dragon freshman Majok Kuath made his first career start in the first Allen game and posted huge numbers with 29 points and 15 rebounds against the Red Devils. D.J. Mitchell added 18 points and Saquan Singleton had 14. The Blue Dragons struggled with their outside shooting, hitting 43.8 percent overall, but only 6 of 21 from 3-point range.
Allen sophomore Malik Hardmon scored 39 points on 16 of 20 shooting in that first meeting with the Dragons. Tyus Jeffries had 18 points. The Red Devils were the first team this season to shoot 50 percent against Hutchinson to that point.
Wednesday's matchup will be the seventh Region VI matchup between Hutchinson and Allen and ninth overall postseason meeting. The Dragons are 5-1 in Region VI games and 7-1 overall against the Red Devils in postseason play.
Hutchinson and Allen locked up in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament in 2019. Back by 24 points from James Rojas, the Blue Dragons prevailed 98-88.
The Blue Dragons have an overall 137-48 record in the Region VI Tournament, which dates back to 1954. That includes a 40-8 record in first/second-round games.
Hutchinson has won 12 consecutive Region VI Tournament opening-round games. The last first-round setback was 2007, a road 88-78 loss to Kansas City. The last home first-round loss came in 2006 to Allen, 60-56.