The 70th Annual NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament continues with semi-final action and a 6pm tipoff on Friday.

Catch all the action on Eagle Radio, with day games broadcast on KWBW 1450 am/98.5 fm.  Country 102.9 fm KHUT will join in on all the fun by also broadcasting the evening tilts.

In addition, Eagle Radio Sports will provide audio to all the action on NJCAATV.com.  Just click on www.njcaatv.com for all the action.

When the Hutchinson Blue Dragons are in action, you can catch the Hutchinson audio with Glen Grunwald and Rusty Hilst at www.hutchinsonscountrystation.com or click here vs Eastern Florida State.

For more Tournament information, go to the following links:

Men:  www.njcaahutchtourney.com

Women:  www.njcaalubbock2017.org

Day 1, Games 1-6  –  First Round
Mon. 20	Spartanburg Methodist	90	Connors State %	96	Final	Box Score
	NJCAA Championship – First Round
	Jones County	106	Caldwell Tech %	78	Final	Box Score
	NJCAA Championship – First Round
	Panola	77	Shelton State %	65	Final	Box Score
	NJCAA Championship – First Round
	Southern Idaho	90	Northern Oklahoma Enid %	95	Final	Box Score
	NJCAA Championship – First Round
	St. Petersburg	70	Highland (IL) %	53	Final	Box Score
	NJCAA Championship – First Round
	Gillette	83	Walters State %	61	Final	Box Score

By Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Monday, March 13, 2017

One day after earning an at-large bid to the 2017 NJCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team learned on Monday it had earned a top four national seed.

The Blue Dragons will be the No. 4 overall seed for the national tournament, which starts on Monday at the Sports Arena.

Hutchinson will not play until Day 3 of the tournament on March 22. The fourth-seeded Blue Dragons will take on the winner of No. 13 St. Petersburg and No. 20 Highland (Ill.). That game will be played at Noon on Wednesday. You can hear the broadcast live locally on Country102.9 fm/KWBW 1450 am & 98.5 fm.  St. Petersburg and Highland will play at 9:30 p.m., the final game of Day 1.

The No. 4 overall seed is the highest for the Blue Dragons since the men’s tournament started seeding when it went to the 24-team single-elimination field. The Dragons were also top-eight national seeds in 2013, 2015 and 2016. The Dragons were the No. 7 national seed last season when they advanced all the way to the national championship game.

The Blue Dragons are in the same quarter-bracket as No. 5 Odessa College. Odessa will play either No. 12 Gillette College or No. 21 Walters State.

San Jacinto will be the tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Ravens benefitted the most from No. 1 South Plains, No. 2 Hutchinson and No. 3 Northwest Florida State were all defeated in their respective regional tournaments.

South Plains in the No. 2 overall seed and Georgia Highlands is the No. 3 seed.

Coffeyville, which upset the Blue Dragons 91-88 in overtime in the Region VI Tournament championship last Wednesday, is the 19th seed. The Red Ravens will play No. 14 Motlow State at 10 a.m. on Tuesday in the opening round.

Hutchinson will play in the NJCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history. The Blue Dragons earned their third-straight trip to the NJCAA Tournament. The only other time the Dragons made three-straight national tournaments was 1971, 1972 and 1973.

The 2017 Blue Dragons are 31-2 and won the Jayhawk Conference championship for the second-straight year and. The Blue Dragons were ranked No. 2 on two different stints this season.

By Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Monday, March 13, 2017

The Jayhawk Conference and Region VI champion Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team will be the No. 4 overall seed for the NJCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament, which starts next Monday in Lubbock, Texas.

The 33-1 Blue Dragons will meet the winner of No. 13 Jones County and No. 20 Western Nebraska at 1 p.m. CT on Wednesday, March 22, in the second round. You can hear the broadcast live locally on KHMY93.1 fm.  Jones County and Western Nebraska will play at 6 p.m. on Monday.

The Tournament seeding and bracket was released on Monday. Gulf Coast State is the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Odessa College is the second seed and Chipola College is the No. 3 seed.

The top eight seeds receive opening-round bye. Seward County, which received an at-large bid after sharing the Jayhawk Conference title with the Blue Dragons, but lost to Hutchinson in the Region VI championship game, is the No. 8 overall seed.

The Blue Dragons are making their seventh appearance in the national tournament, the first since 2015. The Blue Dragons have advanced to the national semifinals five times and have played in the championship game in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

Hutchinson enters the 2017 national tournament on a 31-game winning streak. The Blue Dragons were No. 2 in the final NJCAA Division I rankings.

In Hutch’s quarter-bracket will be No. 5 seed Salt Lake. The Bruins will meet the winner of No. 12-seed Wabash Valley and No. 21-seed Cochise.

The 2017 Women’s National Tournament will be played at Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock. This is the second year that the Griffin Center will play host to the women’s championship.

Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

PARK CITY – Samajae Haynes-Jones scored with 0.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, but the No. 2-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team came up a bit short in the extra session of the Region VI Tournament championship game on Wednesday against Coffeyville at Hartman Arena.

One night after winning a nail-biting semifinal battle over Butler, the Blue Dragons fell in a heart-stopping overtime championship game, 91-88, to the Red Ravens.

Coffeyville is the only team to defeat Hutchinson this season. The Jayhawk Conference champion Blue Dragons are 31-2 overall. Hutchinson must wait to see of it makes the NJCAA Tournament field of 24 as one of the four at-large teams. That selection will be made on Sunday.

If the Dragons qualify, it would be their 20th all-time national tournament appearance and the fourth since 2013.

The Blue Dragons have played in five consecutive Region VI Tournament championship games. Last season, Hutch was upset by Neosho County.

Hutchinson led 36-32 at halftime, but the Red Ravens scored 6 of the first 8 points of the second half.

The Blue Dragons had trouble containing the Red Raven duo of Tedrick Wolfe and Travis Washington. Wolfe had a team-high 28 points on 11 of 18 shooting, while Washington added 21 points. Those two players continually hit big shots for the Ravens in the second half and overtime.

Coffeyville outscored the Blue Dragons 18-15 in overtime and didn’t miss a shot in the extra session. The Red Ravens were 6 of 6 overall, including a pair of 3-pointers. They were 4 of 4 from the free-throw line as well.

J.J. Rhymes had a career-high 32 points on 12 of 24 shooting to lead Hutchinson.

Shakur Juiston had his 22nd double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 results with six assists. Kai Mitchell had 15 points off the bench and Haynes-Jones finished with 10 points.

The Blue Dragons shot 33 of 74 from the field (44.6 percent). The Dragons were 3 of 14 from 3-poitn range and 19 of 24 from the free-throw line. The Dragons owned a 47-36 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over 15 times.

Coffeyville shot 46.8 percent from the floor, going 4 of 14 from 3-point range and 15 of 22 from the foul line. The Ravens had only eight turnovers.

Coffeyville will enter the NJCAA Tournament with a 22-12 overall record.

Juiston, Haynes-Jones, Rhymes and Devonte Bandoo were all named to the 2017 Region VI Tournament All-Tournament team.

Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

PARK CITY – In a battle of co-Jayhawk Conference champions, the No. 2-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team dominated the fourth quarter to defeat No. 4 Seward County 65-44 to win the 2017 Region VI Tournament Championship on Wednesday at Hartman Arena.

The Blue Dragons won their seventh Region VI championship in program history and the sixth under head coach John Ontjes. Hutchinson won its 31st game in a row and will advance to the NJCAA Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, with a 33-1 record.

Hutchinson will receive Region VI’s automatic bid for the NJCAA Tournament, which will run March 20-25 at Lubbock Christian University. Seward County, which has a record of 32-2, is all but guaranteed a spot in the 24-team field with one of the eight at-large bids.

Blue Dragon sophomore guard Taylor Stahly was named the Region VI Tournament Most Valuable Player. Kirea Rogers, Bride Kennedy-Hopoate and Inja Butina were named to the all-tournament team.

Leading 46-38 after three quarters, the Blue Dragons owned the fourth period, scoring 16 of the first 18 points of the period and holding the Saints scoreless for the first 5 minutes, 15 seconds of the period. Brenna McClure‘s 3-pointer with 5:10 to play gave the Blue Dragons a commanding 62-38 lead.

The Blue Dragons held the Saints to 2 of 8 shooting and four turnovers as Hutchinson outscored Seward County 19-6 in the final stanza.

McClure was Hutchinson’s leading scorer, coming off the bench to score a game-high 14 points. McClure had a career-best four 3-pointers on six attempts. She added three assists and three steals.

Rogers and Kennedy-Hopoate scored 10 points each. Stahly, who on Tuesday because Hutchinson’s and the Jayhawk Conference career 3-point leader, had eight points on a pair of treys. Kyla Williams also had eight points and four rebounds.

Preisner and Butina had six points each. Butina reached the 10-assist mark in a game for the 12th time in her career with 11 assists.

The Blue Dragons shot 25 of 58 overall (43.1 percent), including 8 of 19 from 3-point range and 7 of 11 from the foul line. Hutchinson out-rebounded Seward County 38-29.

Hutchinson’s did a masterful job of holding Seward County’s top scoring threats – Mollie Mounsey and Joanna Grymek, in check in the championship game. Mounsey scored 11 points, but was only 1 of 11 from 3-point range and 4 of 19 overall. Grymek was 2 of 8 from the floor for five points.

The Saints were held to 33.3 percent shooting (15 of 45) and 5 of 20 from the 3-point line. The Saints turned the ball over 17 times.

GAME NOTES – Hutchinson has also won Region VI crowns in 1977, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. … The Blue Dragons are 2-0 against Seward County in Region VI Tournament championship games, also winning in 2009.  …  The Blue Dragons are now 58-33 all-time in the Region VI Tournament.

Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Hutchinson Community College sophomore second baseman Michael Helman was named the Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week after a five-home run weekend against Seward County.

Helman, a sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., was nearly unstoppable last Saturday and Sunday as he led the Blue Dragons to a four-game road sweep of Seward County and helped Hutchinson extend their winning streak to 13 games.

Helman was 11 for 18 (.632) with a slugging percentage of 1.667, amassing 30 total bases. Helman had two doubles, a triple and five home runs in the series. He scored 12 runs and had 10 RBIs.

Helman had four multi-hit games and had four-RBI games twice. He also had two two-home run games.

The Blue Dragon second baseman is the first Blue Dragon this season to win the weekly conference honor. He is now eligible for NJCAA National Player of the Week honors. That award will be announced on Wednesday.

Steve Carpenter -HCC Sports Information
Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Winners of 13-straight games and coming off a dominating sweep of Seward County, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team earned its first NJCAA Top 10 ranking since 2014 on Tuesday.

Hutchinson was ranked No. 10 in the first regular-season NJCAA Division I Baseball Rankings of 2017. The Blue Dragons were in the receiving votes list in the preseason rankings.

The Blue Dragons last national rankings came in the final regular-season poll of 2014 when the Blue Dragons were ranked No. 10. The last time the Blue Dragons were ranked in the NJCAA Top 10 was a No. 8 ranking on March 25, 2014

The Blue Dragons are off to a 13-2 start to the season and swept their Jayhawk Conference-opening series on Sunday at Seward County, outscoring the Saints 56-12 and pounding out 16 home runs in the series.

Johnson County (13-3) is the only other Jayhawk Conference team to be ranked in the Top 25. The Cavaliers are ranked No. 17. Neosho County is receiving votes in the latest rankings.

Chipola is ranked No. 1 and has 8 of the 9 first-place votes. Walters State is No. 2, followed by Dyersburg state, Gulf Coast State and McLennan.

The Blue Dragons are at Seminole State for a 6:30 p.m. game on Wednesday in Seminole, Okla. The Dragons will play their first conference series at Hobart-Detter Field against the Colby Trojans with a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. each day.