BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
No. 23 Hutchinson (14-4, 13-4) vs. Garden City (8-9, 7-9) |
| When: Saturday, March 27, 2021 Where: Hutchinson Sports Arena, Hutchinson, KS Time: 7:30 p.m. Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9); KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5), 7:15 p.m. - Glen Grunwald (pbp), Dan Naccarato (color) Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 7:15 p.m. Twitter: @bluedragonsport Tickets: Remaining tickets go on sale at 4:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena CLICK FOR GAME NOTES (PDF Format) |
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Blue Dragon Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team looks to regroup on Saturday after a sub-par performance in last Wednesday's upset loss to the Pratt Beavers.
The No. 23-ranked Blue Dragons (14-4, 13-4 Jayhawk West) play host to the Garden City Broncbusters (8-9, 7-9) in a Jayhawk West battle at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Sports Arena.
The loss to Pratt - The Blue Dragons shot 41.3 percent - tightened the Jayhawk West title chase up a bit. The Dragons' three-game lead shrunk to two games over Dodge City and three to Barton with three games remaining in the regular season. The Blue Dragons close out with Garden City, at Barton on Monday and Colby on Wednesday in the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons are bidding for their first conference crown since 2017 and 37th overall in program history.
One of the most athletic teams in the KJCCC, Garden City is in the midst of a three-game skid with consecutive losses to Dodge City, Butler and Seward County.
The Broncbusters have the fourth-leading scorer in the Jayhawk Conference in Denver Jones, who averaged 19.5 points per game. Jones is shooting 47.0 percent overall and 40.5 percent from 3-point range. He has 32 3-pointers this season.
The Blue Dragons won the first meeting with Garden City, 88-70, on March 6 at Conestoga Arena in Garden City. The final score is a bit deceiving. The Dragons trailed 47-42 at halftime before Hutchinson used a 25-5 run in the second half to turn things around. Matt Mayers led the Blue Dragons with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Josh Baker had 16 points. Jones had 21 points to lead the Busters.
The Blue Dragons have to defend another one of the Jayhawk Conference's top 3-point shooting teams in Garden City, which averages 8.8 made treys per game, shoots 33.7 percent from distance.
Against Pratt on Wednesday, the Dragons used an 11-0 run over a span of 23 seconds to rally from nine points down to take a short-lived lead. The Dragons couldn't finish off the rally. Josh Baker had 22 points to lead the Dragons. Matt Mayers missed most of the first half with an injury. He had eight points and one rebound.