HCC Sports Information

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Samajae Haynes-Jones now has just is coursework and a potential return to the NJCAA Tournament to worry about this season. The Hutchinson Community College sophomore guard took care of his career after his time as a Blue Dragon runs out.

At a news conference on Wednesday in the temporary Blue Dragon Athletic Office in Lockman Hall, Haynes-Jones signed his letter of intent to play next season at Wichita State University, his hometown school. He verbally committed to WSU in September.

Haynes-Jones came to Hutchinson after a stellar career at Wichita East High School. Last season, Haynes-Jones was the third-leading scorer on the Blue Dragons’ 2016 Jayhawk Conference championship team that found its way all the way through to the NJCAA Championship game.

Haynes-Jones is the first Blue Dragon to sign at Wichita State since 2001 when Sasha Mijalovic signed with the Shockers. Joe Mitchell was at WSU for a short time in 2012, but he originally signed at Ohio University before finally ending up at Friends University.

As a freshman with the Blue Dragons, Haynes-Jones was a second-team All-Jayhawk Conference and honorable mention all-Region VI performer last season.

Starting in 36 of 37 games last season, Haynes-Jones 15.4 points per game, shooting 49.9 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from 3-point range and 82.8 percent from the free-throw line. He averaged 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

His offensive production went up in the Dragons postseason run to the national championship game. Haynes-Jones averaged 17.4 points per game shooting among 49 percent from the field.

Haynes-Jones most complete game came in the NJCAA Tournament quarterfinals against No. 7 Northwest Florida State. The Blue Dragon guard dropped a career-best 33 points on the Raiders hitting 11 of 17 shots from the field and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also had five rebounds and six assists in Hutchinson’s 116-90 victory.