Hutchinson CC Sports Information
GOODLAND – Tommy DeSalme's birthday present was a road win for his Hutchinson Community College men's basketball as the Blue Dragons topped the Northwest Tech Mavericks 90-87 Wednesday at the Max Jones Fieldhouse.
Freshman Kernan Bundy led the way for Hutchinson with a career-high 28 points, including five 3-pointers, which were all scored in the first half – two in the final minute of the period.
The Blue Dragon men improve to 11-5 overall, 5-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. Hutchinson has now won three games in a row. The Blue Dragons play host to Seward County at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
Sophomore Aaron Franklin added 22 points and three rebounds in the winning effort.
After jumping out to a 13-5 lead following a Bundy 3-pointer, Northwest Tech woke up and answered the start with a 7-0 run leading into the first media timeout of the game.
That run continued as Northwest Tech's Tate Bessire hit a layup to give the Mavericks their first lead of the game 14-13 with 12:24 in the first half. A Bundy turnover turned into an easy fastbreak layup by Northwest Tech's Keyishon Miller to cap off a 13-1 run with 11:26 in the first half.
With 10:13 remaining in the first half, Aaron Potter hit a big 3-pointer and drew the foul to end a seven-minute Blue Dragon scoring drought. Potter missed the free throw, and Northwest Tech led 18-17.
The Blue Dragons regained the lead with some power off the bench. Freshman Cristian Carroll knocked down a 3-pointer, and on the ensuing Northwest Tech miss, freshman Jackson Leyba corralled a rebound and launched a deep pass down court to Carroll for the fastbreak layup for the 22-20 lead with 8:14 to go in the first half.
Carroll had nine points on 3 of 6 shooting that boosted the Blue Dragons off the bench.
After leading for nearly five minutes, Northwest Tech's lead dwindled as Franklin stuck back a layup following a Steele Gaston-Chapman offensive rebound with 3:35 in the first half, making it 31-31. Free throws gave the Mavericks the lead back momentarily before Jayden Garrison fired and hit a 3-pointer. Bundy responded with another Dragon 3-ball to give the Blue Dragons a five-point lead 37-32 with 2:30 left in the first half.
Bundy's scorching first half continued as he hit his fourth and fifth 3-pointers with under a minute in the first half. At halftime, the Blue Dragons led 48-41 with Bundy and Franklin combining for 33 points and ended the half on a 17-10 run.
The Blue Dragons hit 12 3-pointers in the game on 34 attempts.
That run disappeared, however, into the second half as the Mavericks stitched together a 16-5 run to retake the lead 57-53 with 12:43 left in regulation. Less than a minute later, the Blue Dragons put up a 5-0 run to lead for the moment 58-57 with 12:08 left, those scored on a Bundy layup and Carr 3-pointer.
With under seven minutes remaining, Bundy flew in for the fastbreak slam to cap off an 8-0 run by the Blue Dragons to lead 75-70. The Blue Dragons had forced four straight turnovers by Northwest Tech to regain the lead during the run. That strung into a 12-4 run following a Franklin layup heading into the final media timeout with the Blue Dragons lead 79-74.
Ra'Sean Frederick gave the Blue Dragons their largest lead of the game with a wide-open layup 85-78 with 2:21 remaining.
Taiden Conner brought back Northwest Tech and tied the game with a 3-pointer to make it 85-85 with 1:08 left.
With 18 seconds left, Frederick hit a pair of free throws to give the Blue Dragons an 89-86 lead. Bundy hit one free to put Hutchinson up 90-87 as Northwest Tech missed the game-tying shot at the buzzer.
Kieran Carr, who a pair of 3-pointers, finished the game with seven points.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 11-1 all-time against Northwest Tech, including a four-game win streak over the Mavericks.