Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team had no answer for Dodge City's Jason Edwards on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
Edwards scored a game-high 38 points to pace the No. 14 Conquistadors to a 104-88 Jayhawk Conference victory over the Blue Dragons.
The Dragons fell to 15-11 overall and 9-11 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Dragons travel to Colby on Wednesday. First-place Dodge City is now 19-6 overall and 15-4 in league play.
Edwards was 13 of 16 from the field, hitting 6 of 10 from 3-point range and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. He scored 17 points in the first half and hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 3 minutes to build a 41-34 halftime lead. Edwards had 21 points in the second half as Dodge City outscored the Blue Dragons 63-54 in the final 20 minutes of the game.
Four Blue Dragons scored in double figures led by Aaron Franklin, who is fifth double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Ra'Sean Frederick had 15 points and six rebounds. Dre Weather tied a season high with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting. Steele Gaston-Chapman had 12 points. Kieran Carr added nine points.
The Blue Dragons shot 44.3 percent for the game (31 of 70), hitting 8 of 27 3-pointers and 18 of 30 from the free-throw line. The Dragons out-rebounded Dodge City 46-34. The Dragons had just 12 turnovers.
Dodge City shot 35 of 66 from the floor (53.0 percent), hitting 11 of 23 from 3-point range and 23 of 29 from the free-thrown line.
Cam Malray had 22 points, while Jacobi Sebock, Chris Robinson and D.J. Jones scored 11 points each. Sebock had eight rebounds for the Conquistadors, who had just seven turnovers.
The first half had nine lead changes and three ties in the first half. Trailing 9-5, the Blue Dragons went on an early 11-0 run that was capped by a Weathers' three-point play that gave the Dragons a 16-9 lead with 14:01 to play in the first half.
The Dragons then got back-to-back plays from Frederick with a 3-pointer and 2-pointer to lead 25-22 with 9 minutes to play in the first half. Robinson's 3-pointer started a 7-0 run for a 29-25 lead. Edwards then hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes to play and another with 23 seconds to go to give the Blue Dragons a 41-34 lead at halftime.
Dodge City opened a 16-point lead at 54-38 with 16:12 to go in the second half on a Sebock dunk. The Dragons whittled away at that deficit, slicing Dodge City's lead to 10 at 64-54 after two Frederick free throws with 11:39 to play in the game.
Down 76-64, the Blue Dragons were stung by a 7-0 Conquistador lead. Malray's three-point play with 5:46 left gave the Conquistadors an 83-64 lead. The Dragons got the deficit back to 11 points twice after a Jayden Garrison 3-pointer with 2:31 to go and a Kernan Bundy bucket with 2:12 remaining to cut the Dodge City lead to 92-81. Franklin hit two free throws to cut the deficit further to 95-85 with 1:20 to go. Dodge City finished the game on a 9-2 run.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons split the season series with Dodge City and now lead the all-time series 124-68. … Aaron Franklin is now alone in seventh place on Hutchinson's single-season 3-point list with 70 3-pointers. … The Blue Dragons now have 292 3-pointers of the season, which is No. 2 on the all-time Blue Dragon list. … The Dragons are now 9-5 at the Sports Arena this season. … Sophomore Trey McClure made his first career start.