NJCAATV Replay
by Steve Carpenter (HCC Sports Information)
HUTCHINSON (Ks) -The Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team earned its first NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament victory since 1997 on Wednesday night, defeating No. 4 Trinity Valley 73-61 in a second-round matchup on Tuesday at a packed Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The 23rd-ranked and sixth-seeded Blue Dragons advance to the national quarterfinals for the first time since their last national championship in 1994. Hutchinson will play upstart Georgia Highlands at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the final quarterfinal matchup of the day. Georgia Highlands has dispensed both Jayhawk West champion Butler and overall tournament No. 3 seed College of Southern Idaho in its first two tournament games.
Hutchinson improves to 29-6 with its ninth-consecutive victory. The 29 wins are tied for the seventh most in Blue Dragon history with five other teams.
Wednesday was Hutchinson’s 41st tournament victory, which ties Three Rivers Community College for fifth most in tournament history.
Trailing 21-20 late in the first half, the Blue Dragons surged with a 12-3 run to build a 30-24 lead at halftime. The Dragons then limited the Cardinals (28-5) to 36.6 percent shooting in the second half and outscored Trinity Valley 43-37 in the second half.
“That was huge,” said HCC freshman Keanu Pinder about the late first-half surge. “That brought a lot of energy for our team to feed off of.”
HCC had two huge advantages in the victory. The Blue Dragons out-rebounded a bigger Trinity Valley team 50-32. The other major disparity was from the free-throw line. HCC hit 26 of 39 free throws. The Cardinals were just 3 of 7.
“We knew Trinity Valley was a really good team,” said HCC head coach Steve Eck, whose team lost to Howard College in the same round two years ago. “They had a game under their belt and we haven’t played in a week in a half. We didn’t want a repeat of two years ago and we got tougher and tougher as the game went on.”
Both DeShawn Freeman and Pinder posted double-doubles to lead the Blue Dragons, who shot 23 of 48 overall (48.9 percent). The Dragons had to overcome 22 turnovers.
Freeman had 24 points and 10 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season. He was 7 of 9 shooting and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line. Freeman jumped up two spots on the HCC career scoring list past John Sweet and Nate Brumfield to No. 17 with 913 points. Freeman is the 18th Blue Dragon to reach the career 900-point mark.
Pinder played the best game of his Blue Dragon career by posting his second postseason double-double and fourth of the season with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, scoring nine points in the second half. Pinder also had three assists and two blocked shots. Pinder is tied with Aaron Pettway for ninth on the single-season blocked shots list with 63.
“Keanu was big inside on defense,” Eck said of Pinder. “Offense-wise, they left the high post open and Keanu hit some shots and knocked his free throws down. We had to keep Trinity Valley off the boards and we accomplished that goal.”
Sophomore Austin Budke finished with 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting and eight rebounds. Freshman Akbar Hoffman scored all 10 of his points in the second half.
The Blue Dragons were just 1 of 9 shooting from 3-point range.
Aldonis Foote led Trinity Valley with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals. Detrick Basile, Trinity Valley’s leading scorer, had 12 points on 5 of 20 shooting, only 2 of 11 from 3-point range. Clarence Williams had 10 points.
“He is very fast and he comes off the double balls screens,” said sophomore guard Zach Winter, who had the primary defensive assignment on Basile. “We really worked hard on the posts staying with him off the screens until I got back to him. We were glad to hold him to that kind of shooting night.”
Trinity Valley shot 25 of 74 from the floor (33.8 percent), hitting 8 of 30 from distance. The Cardinals had 14 turnovers.
Despite turnovers on their first three possessions of the game, the Blue Dragons never let Trinity Valley get away from them, building a 10-4 lead on a Budke basket with 14:08 remaining in the first half. A Che Bob layup with 10:34 remaining matched that six-point lead at 14-8.
Trinity Valley put together a 13-4 run over the next 5:35 and HCC went scoreless for nearly three minutes. Trinity Valley guard Sheldon Hagigal hit a 3-pointer with 4:59 to go that game the Cardinals a 21-18 lead.
A Pinder 15-footer with 4:42 remaining in the half sparked what became a crucial run for HCC to close the first half. A Freeman drive to the hoop with 4:23 remaining helped HCC reclaim the lead at 22-21. The Dragons closed the half on a 12-3 run, taking a 30-24 lead into halftime with two Pinder free throws with 1:18 to go in the half.
HCC hit 46.2 percent from the field and limited Trinity Valley to only two 3-pointers and 30.3 percent shooting.
The Blue Dragons built their largest lead to that point when Zach Winter picked up a loose ball and scored with 18:19 remaining to give HCC a 35-26 lead. Trinity Valley picked up its full-court pressure and forced two-straight HCC turnovers, scoring four consecutive points to cut the Dragon lead to 39-35 with 14:58 remaining. HCC had only two field goals in the first nine minutes of the game.
Hutchinson’s lead was cut to 48-44 after a Basile 3-pointer with 9:22 to play. The lead was still 51-46 when HCC scored six unanswered points and took a 57-46 lead after a Hoffman steal turned into a Budke dunk with 6:06 to play.
HCC was able to maintain its double-figure lead in the final 5 minutes of the game. The lead grew to as large as 16 points in the second half at 72-56 after two Freeman free throws.
GAME NOTES – This was Hutchinson’s first NJCAA Tournament victory since defeating Wabash Valley in the consolation round of the 1997 tournament. It’s HCC’s first winner’s bracket victory since defeating Bossier Parish in the opening round of the 1994 tournament. … The Blue Dragons are now 41-22 in 18 NJCAA Tournament appearances. … Now No. 1in the NJCAA in all-time wins, this was victory No. 1,683 for HCC. … The 2015 Blue Dragons moved up to No. 4 on the team’s free-throw list with 737. … HCC upped its blocked shots record to 227. … Keanu Pinder’s 15 rebounds is the fifth times this season a Blue Dragons has had 15 or more rebounds in a game. … Trinity Valley is Hutchinson’s 49th different opponent in the NJCAA Tournament. … HCC is 3-2 vs. nationally ranked teams this season. … The Blue Dragons are 3-0 vs. ranked competition in this year’s postseason.
(HCC Sports Information)