From waiting to see if they would even get into the NJCAA Tournament to trailing by 17 points in the quarterfinals to posting the largest blowout in championship game history, the 2017 Hutchinson Blue Dragons road to the national championship was a wild ride.

The Blue Dragons claimed the program’s third national championship on March 25, 2017 after an 84-58 victory over Eastern Florida State in the championship game.

Sophomore Shakur Juiston was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Juiston finished with tournament highs of 88 points and 56 rebounds. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. Joining Juiston on the all-tournament team were sophomore Samajae Haynes-Jones and freshman J.J. Rhymes.

Head coach Steve Eck was named the Coach of the Tournament.

The 2017 Blue Dragons rolled through the Jayhawk Conference season, winning by five games with a 25-1 league record. The Dragons took a 29-1 regular-season record into the post season.

After a dominant Region VI quarterfinal win over Independence and a heart-stopping semifinal victory over rival Butler, the second-ranked Blue Dragons were upset by Coffeyville 91-88 in overtime in the championship game, which meant the Red Ravens earned the region’s automatic bid and Hutch would have to wait to see if it made the field of 24.

Selection Monday got to be a little nerve-racking as the Blue Dragons were the fourth and final at-large team to be announced. Despite its at-large status, Hutchinson earned an opening-round bye with the No. 4 overall national seed.

To get to the 2017 national championship, the Blue Dragons had to defeat three Florida teams. Hutch defeated St. Petersburg (95-78) in the second round, Northwest Florida State (88-79) in the semifinals and Eastern Florida State in the championship game.

In Hutch’s first game against St. Petersburg, Juiston and Haynes-Jones combined to score 55 points as fourth-seeded Hutchinson rallied from a three-point halftime deficit to advance. The Blue Dragons outscored St. Petersburg by 20 points in the second half and defeated the Titans 95-78.

Trailing at halftime for only the fourth time this season, Hutchinson trailed St. Pete 43-40 at intermission. The Blue Dragons outscored 13th-seeded St.  Petersburg 55-35 in the second half, shooting 64.5 percent (20 of 31) from the floor  and holding the Titans to 36.8 percent in the final 20 minutes.

With the game tied at 53, Devonte Bandoo's layup with 14:58 to go gave the Blue Dragons for good. Leading 62-59, Hutch went on an 8-1 run to build a double-figure lead of 70-60 after two Rhymes free throws with 8:59 to play. Tristan Owens hit one of St. Petersburg's 11 3-pointers to pull the Titans within 72-66 with 7:15 to play, but the Dragons finished the game with a 23-12 run.

Justin scored a career-high 29 points on 11 of 15 shooting and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line. He posted his 22nd double-double of the season with 12 rebounds to go with four assists, four steals and two blocked shots. Haynes-Jones broke out of a mini-scoring slump with 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting. He knocked down 4 of 7 from 3-point range to move up to fourth place on the Blue Dragon career 3-point list with 121 made treys. Haynes-Jones also moved into the Blue Dragon career Top 10 in scoring with 1,124 points.

The Blue Dragons finished the game shooting better than 50 percent for the 20th time this season at 52.3 percent (34 of 65). Hutch was 4 of 14 from 3-point range and 23 of 30 from the free-throw line. The Dragons out-rebounded the Titans 45-30 and had 22 assists to 16 turnovers.

Things looked bleak for the Blue Dragons early in their quarterfinal matchup against Odessa College. Hutch trailed the Wranglers by 17 points in the first half and eight points in the second half, but battled back in both halves and ultimately pulled out an 89-86 victory.

The Blue Dragons got off to a horrible offensive start as Odessa scored the first 13 points of the game and eventually led 28-11 with 9:53 to go. Hutchinson outscored the Wranglers 29-6 over the remainder of the half, holding Odessa scoreless over the final 6:03 to lead 40-34 at halftime.

Odessa had the better start to the second half with an initial 19-7 run to lead 55-47 with 12:49 to go in the game. Tied at 81 with less than 2 minutes remaining, Juiston scored and was fouled with 1:23 to play to give Hutch the lead for good. Juiston converted the three-point play and the Dragons led 84-81.

Bandoo hit two critical free throws with 15.5 seconds left to play and Rhymes hit both free throws with 1.5 seconds left for the final margin of victory.

Juiston posted his 23rd double-double of the season with 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead Hutchinson. Juiston added five assists and two steals.

Haynes-Jones had his second-straight 20-point national tournament game with 20 points, nailing 3 of 3 from the 3-point range and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Haynes-Jones tied a career high with eight rebounds.

Rhymes added 13 points on 11 of 15 shooting.

Bandoo and Sal Nuhu led a big bench effort for the Dragons, whose bench outscored Odessa's 27-9. Bandoo had nine of his 12 points in the first half. Nuhu added nine points, four rebounds, three blocked shots and several hustle plays in the second half to benefit the Dragons.

To get to the 2016 national championship game, the Blue Dragons had to knock off No. 2 Northwest Florida State in the quarterfinals. To reach the 2017 title contest, the Dragons and Raiders met in the national semifinals.

The fourth-seeded and No. 2-nationally ranked Blue Dragons defeated eighth-seeded and No. 3 nationally-ranked Northwest Florida State 88-79.

The Blue Dragons had to rally from an eight-point deficit with 5:12 remaining in the first half. Trailing 37-29, Hutchinson closed the first half on a 19-4 run to lead 46-41 at halftime.

The second half featured an incredibly tense stretch where neither team had more than a one-possession lead for 10 minutes, 14 seconds. There were six lead changes over that span. The Dragons had that sixth lead change and finally built a two-possession lead on a Nuhu dunk which gave the Blue Dragons a 73-69 lead with 4:56 to play.

Hutch finished the game on a 19-10 run over the final 6 minutes of the game.

With his second rebound of the game, Juiston surpassed Mickey Jackson (1976-78) as the program's all-time rebounds leader with 731 boards. And Devonte Bandoo added 10 points.

Juiston posted his 24th double-double of the season with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Juiston added four assists and hit 6 of 8 free throws.

Rhymes led the Blue Dragons with 20 points, scoring 15 in the first half. Rhymes was 7 of 10 shooting, including three 3-pointers. Haynes-Jones had 15 points. Bandoo added 10 points.

The Blue Dragons got off to a tremendous start in the NJCAA Tournament championship game, especially on the defensive end. Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to four points over the first 12 minutes of the game in building a 21-4 lead with 8:38 to go in the first half.

The 26-point margin of victory was the largest in NJCAA Tournament championship game history.

Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to 7 of 33 shooting in the first half (21.2 percent) as the Blue Dragons led 39-16 at intermission.

Bandoo led the Blue Dragons with 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting, including two 3-point goals. Rhymes had 11 points.

The Blue Dragons were 34 of 69 from the field (49.3 percent), hitting 5 of 16 from 3-point range and 11 of 16 from the foul line. The Blue Dragons were out-rebounded 49-45, but had only had only 10 turnovers to 29 assist.

Defensively, Hutchinson limited Eastern Florida State to 29.3 percent from the field (22 of 75). The Titans hit 6 of 22 from 3-point range and were 8 of 11 from the foul line. Eastern Florida State turned the ball over times.

Juiston posted his fourth double-double of the tournament and led Hutchinson on Saturday with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Hutchinson's career rebound leader ends with 742 rebounds.