COLBY, Kan. — Shakur Juiston notched his eighth double-double of the season and tied his career high for rebounds.

Juiston finished with 15 points and 15 boards, but more impressively, 5 assists.

To put that in perspective, Papi Conley, the Dragons point guard known for delicious dimes, also finished with 5 feeds. Conley scored 10.

Devonte Bandoo came off the bench to drop 17 points with two treys.

He sparked the Dragons with a two-handed slam at the buzzer to end the first half after Papi Conley stole the ball away from the Trojans.

Colby (4-5, 1-5) had an opportunity to cut the Dragon 10-point lead before intermission, but turned the ball over to crawl into a deeper hole.

The No. 6 Blue Dragons (10-0, 6-0) exploded into the second half with a 20-10 run. HCC scored 20 points every 7 minutes in the first 14 minutes of play in the second half.

Samajae Haynes-Jones fired up with back-to-back trips with a three-pointer, something he’s done more than once this year. Haynes-Jones finished with 12 points and 4 assists.

Five Blue Dragons scored in double digits.

J.J. Rhymes led the team with 19 and Kai Mitchell pitched in 10.

HCC held three top scorers from Colby to 18 points collectively. The trio averages nearly 37.

Ajou Deng did hurt the Dragons. The 6-9 PF, brother of the NBA’s Luol Deng, finished with a double-double. Deng had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

FINAL: HCC 91 Colby 74

The Blue Dragons return home Saturday to face Garden City.

Rogers scores 21 in rout of Trojans

COLBY, Kan. — It’s no secret that the Colby Trojans have struggled to win the past few seasons.

Colby lost 19 straight last year, the equivalent of nearly three months, and finished 1-18 in the conference.

The Trojans (3-7, 1-5) fell into an early 24-4 hole.

No. 9 HCC (7-1, 5-1) continued its winning ways and is now on a five-game winning streak.

Kirea Rogers led the charge with 21 points and 7 rebounds.

Brenna McClure folowed up her 15-point performance against Neosho County with another 15-point effort.

Bride Kennedy-Hopoate scored 15 off the bench, while Taylor Stahly and Alicia Brown each pitched in 8.

The Blue Dragons dished out 18 assists on 35 made baskets.

FINAL: HCC 90 Colby 46

HCC returns to the Sports Arena Saturday against Garden City.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — HCC (9-0, 5-0) jumped out to a 43-22 halftime lead over Neosho County (5-4, 2-3) in the Sports Arena.

Austin Downing led the Panthers with 14 of his team’s 22.

Papi Conley came out strong for HCC and finished with 10 in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting.

HCC kept its distance in the second half despite a brief run from the Panthers.

The Blue Dragons tallied 42 bench points. Devonte Bandoo pitched in 10 and Fatir Hines scored 12 off the bench.

Kai Mitchell shot 6-for-10 and finished with 15.

J.J. Rhymes hit 9-of-15 free throws to drop 17 points and lead the Dragons while Samajae Haynes-Jones finished with 16.

Shakur Juiston failed to register a double-double for just the second time this year. He scored 5 with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Blue Dragons shot 35-of-52 from the FT line. The Panthers knocked down 13-of-21 attempts.

Austin Downing paced the Panthers with 21 while Marc Moon hit a hot streak and dropped 19.

FINAL: HCC 90 Neosho County 67

The No. 6 Blue Dragons travel to Colby on Wednesday.

Three Dragons score in double digits to lead HCC over Neosho County

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The No. 9 HCC women (6-1, 4-1) jumped out to a 48-24 halftime advantage over Neosho County (4-5, 1-4).

Brenna McClure found her scoring touch and led HCC with 11 in the first half. She finished with 15. Nine of her 10 points came from the FT line. McClure also had 8 assists and 4 steals.

Kirea Rogers shot 6-of-10 and finished with 16 points. She just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds.

Alicia Brown came off the bench to score 11 points.

Brooke Neal led the Panthers with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

FINAL: HCC 85 Neosho County 47

HCC travels to Colby on Wednesday.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hesston scored on its first three possessions and led at halftime over back-to-back defending champion Rossville.

Hesston’s lead at halftime was 20-13.

Zach Esau opened up the scoring for the Swathers with a 2-yard run. Matthew Whitsitt missed the extra point opportunity.

His kick was into the wind on the south side of the field where multiple extra points sailed wide. Whitsitt would finish the day 2-of-4 on XP attempts.

Frederik Andresen would also miss an extra point attempt for the Bulldogs and finish 2-of-3.

Dawson Hammes put Rossville on the board with 5:03 left in the first quarter on a 1-yard burst. The XP gave the Bulldogs an early 7-6 lead.

Parker Roth then scored a pair of touchdowns to close out the first quarter.

His scores came from 7 and 27 yards out.

Hesston went for two on the first TD and succeeded when Cameron Cox passed the ball to Zach Vogt on a misdirection reverse pass.

Rossville scored the last TD of the first half four minutes into the second quarter on a 44-yard TD pass from Jacob Bradshaw to Cole Schumacher. The XP attempt failed to keep the difference at 7.

Zach Esau quickly opened up the third quarter with a 61-yard pass to Zach Vogt. Hesston opted to go for two and converted on a pass from Esau to Roth.

Cole Schumacher got Rossville back in the scoring groove on a 15-yard reception. The two point conversion failed. With seven minutes left in the third, Hesston led 28-19.

Rossville would score again nearly three minutes later on a 50-yard Jacob Bradshaw run. Bradshaw also ran in the conversion to cut the deficit to one.

Hesston returned the favor on a Zach Esau pass to Cameron Cox from 31 yards out.

At the end of three, Hesston led the contest 35-27.

Cole Schumacher scored again on a Bradshaw pass from 14 yards away.

Trevor Balch caught the two point conversion to tie the game at 35.

Hesston moved the ball 65 yards on seven plays to take a 42-35 lead with 4:38 left. The score came on a 2-yard Zach Esau run.

Rossville answered that drive and score with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that finished with a 7-yard Dawson Hammes run.

Andresen knocked through the extra point to tie the game at 42.

Hesston seemed to be playing for OT on the final drive with under a minute left, but then tried a fake punt to get a late first down. The Bulldogs stopped the fake short and took over with little time left at the Swather 40.

A 14-yard pass set up a last-second FG attempt from Frederik Andresen. With the wind behind his back, the kick had the distance, but sailed right.

Tied at 42, the game headed to OT.

Hesston went on offense first and looked close to a score on third down. However, Zach Esau fumbled at the goal line and Rossville recovered.

On the first play after the turnover, Rossville’s Jacob Bradshaw scampered into the end zone from 10 yards out.

FINAL: Rossville 48 Hesston 42

This was the third straight championship for the Rossville Bulldogs. Rossville finished the season with a 13-1 record.

Hesston finished 10-4.

Jacob Bradshaw finished with 275 yards rushing for Rossville with 2 TDs.

He threw for another 148 yards and 3 TDs.

Cole Schumacher caught 9 passes for 135 yards and 3 TDs.

Parker Roth led Hesston with 135 yards on the ground and 2 TDs.

Zach Esau also had 2 touchdowns with 112 yards.

Esau threw for 238 and 2 touchdowns.

Cameron Cox caught 9 passes for 124 yards and 1 TD.

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. — HCC stayed undefeated on the year with an impressive second half against Coffeyville. Daren Dunn sat down with HC Steve Eck after the game.

Photo courtesy of HCC Sports Information 

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. — The Red Ravens (7-1, 3-1) and Blue Dragons (8-0, 4-0) were tied in the final seconds of the first half at 41 before Samajae Haynes-Jones stole the ball and dribbled three-quarters of the court through two defenders to drop in a layup at the buzzer.

HCC went into the intermission with a 2-point lead and a spark.

Haynes-Jones finished the first 20 minutes with 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting.

He would use the final steal and bucket of the first half to ignite a 25-point game with 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Shakur Juiston just missed his eighth double-double in as many games this season and finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots.

Kai Mitchell came off the bench and contributed 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

J.J. Rhymes continued to be strong underneath and pulled down 7 rebounds while dropping 18 points. Four of his rebounds came on the offensive end.

Papi Conley dished out 5 assists and scored 9 points for the Blue Dragons.

HCC gave up 20 offensive rebounds, but the Red Ravens only capitalized on 10 second-chance points.

Travis Washington led the Red Ravens with 17 points. Malik Keith scored 11 and handed out 5 assists.

HCC outscored Coffeyville 45-33 in the second frame after racing out to a 16-point lead in under 8 minutes.

Haynes-Jones led that attack with 8 points on three straight trips, highlighted by back-to-back threes.

FINAL: HCC 88 Coffeyville 74

HCC will be back in action Saturday in the Sports Arena against Neosho.

Kennedy-Hopoate scores 22 off the bench to lead HCC over Coffeyville 

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. — HCC (5-1, 3-1) got 31 points from bench players Tuesday night against Coffeyville (4-3, 3-1), 22 of which came from Bride Kennedy-Hopoate.

She shot 11-of-17 from the floor and pulled down 5 rebounds.

Taylor Stahly contuned her streaky ways with 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. She tallied 19 points and 4 assists.

Kirea Rogers started the ball game after not playing until the third quarter against Pratt.

Rogers finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Blue Dragons outrebounded the Red Ravens 39-31.

Lucy Burke paced Coffeyville with 16 points, but shot 6-of-18 from the floor after an 0-for-7 start.

Alanie Fisher scored 12 for Coffeyville and dished out 6 assists.

The Blue Dragons thrived on 22 points off turnovers while the Red Ravens only finished with 5.

Coffeyville outscored HCC 38-34 in the second half, but the damage was done in the first when the Blue Dragons tallied a 36-17 advantage.

FINAL: HCC 70 Coffeyville 55

HCC hosts Neosho in the Sports Arena Saturday.

Photo courtesy of HCC Sports Information

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The No. 6 Blue Dragons (7-0, 3-0) remained perfect on the season and in conference play after dropping 103 points on the Pratt Beavers (2-4, 0-3).

HCC led by 13 at halftime and built on that lead in the second half.

Shakur Juiston had the highlight of the game with an alley-oop dunk from Papi Conley.

Sal Nuhu also finished off a sweet oop later in the contest.

Devonte Bandoo showed off his dunking skills once more with a thunderous breakaway dunk.

He nearly stole the ball again on a breakaway moments later, but the Beavers fouled Bandoo intentionally to prevent the fireworks.

Bandoo finished with 16 points, while Papi Conley dropped 14 with 4 rebounds and 9 assists.

Conley just missed a double-double, but double-double machine Shakur Juiston finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Samajae Haynes-Jones led all scorers with 24. He also had 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

Kai Mitchell also scored 14 for HCC with 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Dragons finished with five scorers in double digits.

Devon Andrews led the Beavers with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

FINAL: HCC 103 Pratt 75

Dragon women hold Beavers to 9 points in first half

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — No. 9 HCC (4-1, 2-1) held Pratt (1-6, 0-3) to 3-of-22 shooting in the first half and 12-of-42 for the game.

The Blue Dragons raced out to a 40 to 9 advantage at halftime.

Taylor Stahly led the Blue Dragons in the first half with 10 points and did not score in the second.

Kirea Rogers did not play in the first half, but outscored the Beavers 13-11 in the third quarter. She finished with 15 on 4-of-5 shooting and a perfect 7-of-7 from the line.

Alicia Brown dropped 10 and pulled down 7 rebounds.

Bride Kennedy-Hopoate was the fourth Blue Dragon in double-digit scoring. She finished with 13.

Brenna McClure scored 9 points and added 7 steals.

FINAL: HCC 85 Pratt 41

Both teams are back in action Tuesday on the road at Coffeyville.

Photo courtesy of HCC Sports Information

CONCORDIA, Kan. — Daren Dunn caught up with Steve Eck after the Blue Dragons (6-0, 2-0) defeated Cloud County 80-74 on the road Wednesday night.

Photo courtesy HCC Sports Information 

CONCORDIA, Kan. — Cloud County went 10-22 last year. The Thunderbirds lost conference games by an average of 15 points.

Much improved, the Thunderbirds (5-1, 1-1) were looking to stay undefeated on the young season.

HCC (6-0, 2-0) also entered undefeated and finished the night that way.

The Blue Dragons raced out to an 18-7 lead, but the Thunderbirds went on a run to keep it close. Cloud garnered a 6-point lead with 6 minutes remaining in the first half.

Despite seven second-chance opportunities, the Thunderbirds only tallied 9 second-chance points by intermission.

Deon Lyle came out hot for Cloud and hit all four of his three point opportunities.

Aamahne Santos did most of his damage from the line. In fact, he was the only Thunderbird to reach the charity stripe.

He sank all eight of his FT attempts in the first half and finished the game with 11 tries.

Santos improved to 20-for-20 on the year before missing a crucial free throw late.

Santos finished with 17 points, 10 from the line for Cloud.

HCC fought back to gain a 41-39 halftime lead.

Despite a slow start, it turned out to be another day at the office for Shakur Juiston.

He added another double-double to his season with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

Juiston managed just 2 points throughout most of the first half before breaking away and putting the thunderous finish on two dunks.

Once Juiston came to life, so did the Dragons.

Papi Conley and Samajae Haynes-Jones both slashed to the basket early to produce opening buckets.

Conley finished with 10 points and 6 assists while Haynes-Jones dropped 17 points and pulled down 5 rebounds.

Guard J.J. Rhymes showed his post presence early and often on his way to 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Lyle came out cold in the second half before heating up again. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-10 three-point shooting for Cloud.

His late three gave Cloud life after HCC seemingly had the game at hand.

The Blue Dragons kept building leads of 6 and 8 points late, but the Thunderbirds were able to hang around with three-point shooting and second chances.

Cloud finished with 16 offensive rebounds, but lost the rebounding battle 43-37.

The Blue Dragons trailed in the rebound category at half by two.

Blue Dragon HC Steve Eck said the Blue Dragons weren’t ready for the long rebounds off three-point attempts and that HCC will have to do a better job of boxing out.

FINAL: HCC 80 Cloud County 74

HCC returns to the Sports Arena Saturday to take on the Pratt Beavers (2-3, 0-2).