BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
Hutchinson (19-6) vs. No. 1 Mineral Area (23-0)
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| When: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Where: Hutchinson Sports Arena Time: 2 p.m. Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9); KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5), 1:45 p.m. – Glen Grunwald (PBP), Bryan Miller (Color) Video: NJCAA Network (pay per view), 1:50 p.m. Twitter: @BlueDragonSport CLICK FOR GAME NOTES (PDF Format) |
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team plays the highest-ranked team it's faced this season and it happened to be the 2021 NJCAA Tournament's No. 1 seed in the second round.
The 16th-seeded Blue Dragons (19-6) will take on No. 1 seed and No. 2 NJCAA Rankings Mineral Area College at 2 p.m. on Tuesday in the first game of the NJCAA Tournament's second round.
The Blue Dragons reached an NJCAA Tournament milestone on Monday after a 95-86 win over Kilgore College. Hutchinson became just the fifth team to reach 50 tournament victories. The win was also Blue Dragon head coach Steve Eck's 650th NJCAA victory, 382 of those coming with the Blue Dragons.
The Blue Dragons will square off against the No. 1 defensive scoring team in the national in Mineral Area. The Cardinals allow just 60 points per game. MAC is sixth in the NJCAA in field-goal defense (37.6 percent) and eighth in 3-point defense (33.4 percent).
Mineral Area rolled by State Fair (88-52) and Moberly Area (66-56) in the regional tournament and defeated Triton 75-56 in the district championship game.
The Blue Dragons, in four postseason games, is averaging 92.8 points per game so far. Hutchinson is shooting 50.6 percent in the postseason and are plus 10.0 in rebounding margin.
Sophomore guard Josh Baker leads five Blue Dragons scoring in double figures in the postseason at 17.8 points per game.
Tuesday's matchup will be only the second time that Hutchinson and Mineral Area will have played. The other meeting came on December 31, 1992, in the championship game of the Mesa Rotary Tournament. The Dragons lost that meeting 63-56.
Mineral Area is led by forward Malevy Leons, who is averaging 18.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Leons shoots 56.6 percent from the field. Keonte Jones is the Cardinals' second-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game. Terrion Murdix is third at 9.8 points and Kevin Stone is fourth at 9.7 points per game.
The Blue Dragons are 3-2 in the second round of the NJCAA Tournament. Hutchinson looks for its 17th appearance in the NJCAA Tournament quarterfinals.