By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college men’s basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 10, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Prv
1. Kentucky (64) 2-0 1622 2
2. Duke 2-0 1538 4
3. Michigan St. 1-1 1451 1
4. Louisville (1) 2-0 1425 5
5. Kansas 1-1 1354 3
6. North Carolina 2-0 1187 9
7. Maryland 2-0 1166 7
8. Gonzaga 2-0 1136 8
9. Virginia 2-0 1134 11
10. Villanova 1-0 1064 10
11. Texas Tech 2-0 888 13
12. Seton Hall 2-0 869 12
13. Memphis 2-0 828 14
14. Oregon 2-0 804 15
15. Florida 1-1 616 6
16. Ohio St. 2-0 544 18
17. Utah St. 2-0 507 17
18. Saint Mary’s 1-0 438 20
19. Arizona 2-0 415 21
20. Washington 1-0 373 —
21. Xavier 2-0 370 19
22. Auburn 2-0 247 24
23. LSU 1-0 237 22
24. Baylor 1-1 179 16
25. Colorado 1-0 151 —
Others receiving votes: VCU 137, Florida St. 112, Texas 95, Marquette 67, Tennessee 49, Providence 23, Purdue 21, Houston 18, Utah 14, Missouri 13, Arkansas 11, Mississippi St. 9, Georgetown 4, Liberty 3, San Diego St. 2, Creighton 1, Dayton 1, Northeastern 1, Vermont 1.

NEW YORK (AP) — Oregon had the most impressive win of the week in a game that didn’t even count.

The Ducks remained a solid No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll Monday, receiving 28 of 30 first-place votes from a national media panel. Oregon stunned the U.S. women’s national team in an exhibition game on Saturday, handing the Americans only their second loss ever to a college program.

All-America Sabrina Ionescu led the way with 30 points. The Ducks open their season Monday night against Northeastern.

“This is a memorable night,” coach Kelly Graves said after the victory. “Great crowd, they were loud. That’s almost really about as good as it can get in basketball. And all that being said, we’re 0-0.”

Baylor was second in the women’s AP Top 25, claiming the other two first-place ballots. The Lady Bears were followed by Stanford, Connecticut and Texas A&M. It’s the first time the Aggies are ranked in the top five since they were fifth on Dec. 29, 2014.

South Carolina moved up to sixth after an impressive road victory over then-No. 4 Maryland on Sunday. The Terrapins dropped to eighth. A year ago, Maryland went to South Carolina and rallied from an early 12-point deficit to register an 85-61 victory.

“It was an embarrassment,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said.

Oregon State was seventh, with Louisville and Mississippi State rounding out the top 10.Here are a few other tidbits from this week’s poll:

CHARGING BULLS: South Florida entered the poll this week at No. 25. Coach Jose Fernandez’s team knocked off then-No. 15 Texas on Friday night. Last season the Bulls were ranked in the preseason before losing three of their top four players to injury. That allowed other players to get experience and now with most of the injured ones back, Fernandez believes his team is primed for a strong season.

South Florida will be challenged with games against Baylor, Mississippi State, Notre Dame and UConn.

“We always play a tough schedule and this will be a good test for our team,” Fernandez said last month at American Athletic Conference media day.

TIP-INS: Ranked teams went 37-3 last week, with only Maryland, Texas and Minnesota losing games. The Golden Gophers fell out of the poll … North Carolina State coach Wes Moore on Sunday reached 700 career wins. In just over six seasons at N.C. State, Moore has posted a record of 142-58 (.710) that includes a 63-33 (.656) mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. He has guided the Wolfpack to four NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back Sweet 16s in 2018 and 2019. With Sunday’s win, Moore became just the 11th active and 22nd ever NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to reach 700 victories.

CHALLENGING WEEK: Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw’s team, which lost more than 10,000 points to graduation and the WNBA, faces a tough schedule. The 15th-ranked Fighting Irish host Tennessee and No. 16 Michigan State this week. The Irish opened the season with a five-point win at Fordham.

“It’s definitely a work in progress,” McGraw said. “Definitely enjoyed coaching them a lot this summer and getting back to teaching them more.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Tannehill threw a 23-yard touchdown to Adam Humphries with 23 seconds left, and the Tennessee Titans rallied to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-32 to spoil the return of NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes. The Titans only had a chance after a bad snap by the Chiefs on Harrison Butker’s fifth field goal attempt of the day ended with a botched snap. The Titans blocked Butker’s sixth attempt to seal the win.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The reigning NFL MVP is back and healthy as ever for the Kansas City Chiefs. Now Patrick Mahomes and his teammates have some room for improvement. Mahomes threw for a season-high 446 yards with three touchdowns, but the Chiefs had too many penalties and settled for too many field goal attempts that wound up costing Kansas City in a 35-32 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs also had some more offensive linemen hurt with the defense giving up 188 yards rushing to Derrick Henry.

UNDATED (AP) — No. 12 Baylor is the Big 12’s only undefeated team and people are starting to pay attention with the Bears playing No. 10 Oklahoma next. There are a lot of close wins for the 9-0 Bears, the latest in triple overtime at TCU. They have been behind in the fourth quarter in four of their six Big 12 games. They have needed multiple OTs to win two of them. Coach Matt Rhule says he has a tough, hard-nosed resilient group of players.

National Headlines

UNDATED (AP) — LSU is an overwhelming No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll after beating Alabama in a 1-2 matchup, and Minnesota moved into the top 10 for the first time in 57 years. After two weeks of historically close voting at the top of poll, LSU received 54 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. Ohio State was No. 2, Clemson was third and Alabama fell to No. 4.

UNDATED (AP) — Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game drew 16.636 million viewers for CBS, making it the most-watched college football game of the season. CBS said LSU’s 46-41 victory against over the Crimson Tide scored a 9.7 rating, the highest for any regular-season college football game on any network in eight years.

UNDATED (AP) — Arkansas has fired football coach Chad Morris after 22 games and no Southeastern Conference victories over nearly two lackluster seasons. Morris finished 4-18 and 0-14 in the SEC. Arkansas owes Morris just over $10 million in buying out his contract.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ New Orleans’ six-game winning streak is over after Matt Ryan completed 20 of 35 for 182 yards and two touchdowns in Atlanta’s 26-9 stunner over the Saints. Ryan’s first TD throw put the Falcons ahead to stay in the second quarter before his fourth-quarter scoring toss to running back Brian Hill gave Atlanta a 20-9 lead. Saints quarterback Drew Brees (breez) went 32 of 45 for 287 yards, but Atlanta allowed just 23 yards on the ground and ended a six-game losing streak.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) _ Aaron Jones scored three rushing touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers used a goal-line stand to beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16. Preston Smith and the Packers’ defense stopped Christian McCaffrey at the goal line as time expired to give Green Bay an 8-2 record. Kyle Allen completed 28 of 43 attempts for 307 yards, but he also had two costly turnovers as Carolina dropped to 5-4.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ Dalvin Cook ran for 97 yards and had another 86 yards receiving to set up three other scores in the Minnesota Vikings’ 28-24 downing of the Cowboys in Dallas. Cook broke a 21-21 tie with a two-yard scoring burst on fourth down in the third quarter to help Minnesota improve to 7-3. Dak Prescott threw for 397 yards and three touchdowns for the 5-4 Cowboys.

CINCINNATI (AP) _ Lamar Jackson threw for three touchdowns and added a sensational 47-yard scoring run as the Baltimore Ravens hammered Cincinnati, 49-13 for their sixth straight win. Jackson set a club completion percentage record by hitting on 15 of his 17 throws for 223 yards and a perfect passer rating of 158.3, his second of the season. Ryan Finley finished 16 of 30 for 167 yards in his first NFL start as the 0-9 Bengals absorbed their 11th consecutive loss since last season.

Sunday Scores

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 49 Cincinnati 13
Final Cleveland 19 Buffalo 16
Final Atlanta 26 New Orleans 9
Final N-Y Jets 34 N-Y Giants 27
Final Tennessee 35 Kansas City 32
Final Tampa Bay 30 Arizona 27
Final Chicago 20 Detroit 13
Final Miami 16 Indianapolis 12
Final Pittsburgh 17 L.A. Rams 12
Final Green Bay 24 Carolina 16
Final Minnesota 28 Dallas 24
Mon Seattle at San Francisco 7:15 p.m. CST

TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final Florida St. 63 (6)Florida 51
Final (5)Louisville 78 Youngstown St. 55
Final (18)Ohio St. 76 Mass.-Lowell 56
Final (11)Virginia 65 James Madison 34
Final (1)Michigan St. 100 Binghamton 47
Final (21)Arizona 90 Illinois 69

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final OT Denver 100 Minnesota 98
Final Indiana 109 Orlando 102
Final Philadelphia 114 Charlotte 106
Final Milwaukee 121 Oklahoma City 119
Final Cleveland 108 New York 87
Final Phoenix 138 Brooklyn 112
Final OT Portland 124 Atlanta 113
Final Toronto 113 L.A. Lakers 104

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 9, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record Pts Pv
1. LSU (54) 9-0 1542 1
2. Ohio St. (5) 9-0 1480 3
3. Clemson (3) 10-0 1441 4
4. Alabama 8-1 1312 2
5. Georgia 8-1 1267 6
6. Oregon 8-1 1224 7
7. Minnesota 9-0 1164 13
8. Utah 8-1 1099 8
9. Penn St. 8-1 1003 5
10. Oklahoma 8-1 1000 9
11. Florida 8-2 934 10
12. Baylor 9-0 932 11
13. Auburn 7-2 871 12
14. Michigan 7-2 744 14
15. Wisconsin 7-2 657 16
16. Notre Dame 7-2 593 15
17. Cincinnati 8-1 567 17
18. Memphis 8-1 510 19
19. Boise St. 8-1 371 21
20. SMU 9-1 346 23
21. Navy 7-1 228 25
22. Texas 6-3 199 NR
23. Iowa 6-3 197 18
24. Indiana 7-2 108 NR
25. Oklahoma St. 6-3 77 NR

Others receiving votes: Appalachian St. 73, Kansas St. 67, Texas A&M 42, Wake Forest 38, Louisiana Tech 25, Virginia 12, San Diego St. 7, Iowa St. 4, Virginia Tech 4, Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2, UCF 2, Air Force 2, North Dakota St. 1, Southern Cal 1, Illinois 1.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Forcing Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to settle for a bunch of field goals gave the Tennessee Titans a chance to stay close.

Ryan Tannehill and a cornerback only activated off injured reserve a week ago helped make the Chiefs pay for their fifth and sixth attempts.

Tannehill threw a 23-yard touchdown to Adam Humphries with 23 seconds left, and Joshua Kalu blocked a last-second field goal attempt to beat the Chiefs 35-32 to spoil the return of NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes.

“It’s fun to win a game like that, battle back in the fourth-quarter at home and find a way to win is a ton of fun,” Tannehill said.

The Titans (5-5) only had a chance after a bad snap by the Chiefs on Harrison Butker’s fifth field goal attempt of the day. Kansas City coach Andy Reid blamed communication for the snap taking holder Dustin Colquitt by surprise, and he threw the ball away in desperation for an intentional grounding call, setting the Titans up at their own 39.

Tannehill scrambled for 18, hit Anthony Firsker for 20 yards and then found Humphries who ran in for the TD. Tannehill also ran for the 2-point conversion for a 35-32 lead.

The Chiefs (6-4) had a final chance with Mahomes. He drove them down, setting up Butker for another field goal try from 52 yards.

Kalu blocked the kick with his left hand, and the Titans ran onto the field to celebrate. Kalu wound up at the bottom of a pile, and he said he kept getting closer each time watching the Chiefs’ cadence, hands and eyes. The block was a blur but not his decision to jump at the snap.

“As soon as I hit it, it was automatic joy,” said Kalu, recently activated from injured reserve.

Kansas City coach Andy Reid, now 1-8 all-time against Tennessee, said he wanted to see a replay of the blocked field goal thinking Kalu was offside. But Reid took the blame for the loss.

“We were in position to close it, and we didn’t get that done,” Reid said. “My responsibility. Then we were too sloppy.”

Derrick Henry ran for 188 yards, including a 68-yard TD that put Tennessee up 20-19 with 5:58 left in the third. His 1-yard TD with 6:26 remaining pulled the Titans within 29-27.

Tannehill finished with 181 yards passing and ran for 37 yards for the win.

The loss spoiled the best passing game this season for Mahomes as the Chiefs outgained the Titans 530-371. Mahomes threw for 446 yards and three touchdowns. His best play came with the pocket collapsing around him when he jumped up to throw over the linemen to Mecole Hardman who ran for a 63-yard TD with 11:54 left and a 29-20 lead.

“The knee feels fine, and I’m glad to get through another game,” Mahomes said of his knee and ankle that had been hurting last month.

Mahomes looked very healthy playing for the first time since dislocating his right kneecap Oct. 17. He got lucky when his first pass first ruled an interception was overturned by replay for Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro trapping the ball on the ground. Mahomes capped the Chiefs’ first drive with a 3-yard shovel pass to Travis Kelce.

The Chiefs sacked Tannehill four times and also forced a fumble but could only turn that into one of Butker’s four made field goals.

Tannehill got the Titans going with a 52-yard throw to Kalif Raymond, then he hit Anthony Firkser for a 9-yard TD. Then rookie linebacker David Long forced a fumble by Damien Williams, and linebacker Rashaan Evans picked up the ball, juked away from Mahomes and ran 53 yards for a TD and a 13-10 lead with 6:14 left in the second quarter.

INJURIES

The Chiefs came in with left tackle Eric Fisher still healing up from a groin injury that has kept him out all but the first two games of the season, and right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif missing a second game with an ankle. Late in the first half, Kansas City lost an offensive lineman on consecutive plays. First, right tackle Mitchell Schwartz hurt a knee and went to the sideline, snapping the NFL’s longest active snap streak at 7,894 snaps. Then Martinas Rankin, who started at right guard, moved over a spot and hurt his right knee on the next play. He was carted to the locker room and did not return. Schwartz returned. Reid said defensive end Emmnuel Ogbah tore his right pectoral muscle.

PENALTY WOES

Three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan apologized for leading the Titans in penalties, including a trio Sunday. He said no needs to call him out on having a team-high nine penalties in six games after being suspended for the first four.

“It’s not intentional,” Lewan said. “I do not mean to do it. My intentions are good. I’m just trying to finish and it’s killing the team.”

UP NEXT

Chiefs: Play Chargers in Mexico City on Nov. 18.

Titans: Bye, then host the Jaguars on Nov. 24.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dalvin Cook did plenty in the running game.

The NFL rushing leader from Minnesota might have had his biggest plays in the passing game while easily outshining two-time rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott.

Cook ran for 97 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown on fourth down on the final play of the third quarter, and had 86 yards receiving that boosted three other scoring drives, leading the Vikings over the Dallas Cowboys 28-24 on Sunday night.

Cook’s 183 scrimmage yards gave him the league lead in that category as well at 1,415 as the Vikings (7-3) beat a winning team on the road for the first time in almost two years. Minnesota was 0-9-1 in its previous 10 such games.

“Dalvin handled everything great,” coach Mike Zimmer said. “He played outstanding. Had some unbelievable runs, tough, competitive runs. I think Dalvin believes that he’s really good. I believe that too.”

Amari Cooper had the most circus catches on a night full of them for both teams, including a toe-tapping TD for Dallas’ only lead in the third quarter.

Kirk Cousins threw for two touchdown passes, both to Kyle Rudolph, for just his second victory in nine prime-time road games.

But Minnesota’s offensive star was Cook, who set up the first two Minnesota touchdowns for a 14-0 lead with catches of 27 and 29 yards on screens and got a first down with an 8-yarder early on the third scoring drive.

“We thought it was going to be a challenge to get some explosive screens and get some explosive runs in this game to have a chance, and I think we checked those two boxes,” Cousins said. “That’s a big reason why we’re standing here with a win instead of a loss.”

Elliott had 47 yards on 20 carries after three straight 100-yard games as the Cowboys (5-4) fell into a first-place tie with Philadelphia in the NFC East.

“From the standpoint of numbers, from the standpoint of where you stand, this was a big game for us, and it’s going to make it that much harder to get where we want to go,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.

Despite throwing for 397 yards and three touchdowns, Prescott lost to Cousins for the first time after going 4-0 against the former Washington quarterback as a division rival.

“We had to make them be one-dimensional,” Zimmer said. “I wish we had played better in pass defense than what we did. I thought we did a really good job with our run fits and the way that we tackled.”

Cousins, who had 220 yards passing, beat the Cowboys for the second time in eight tries as the Vikings kept pace in the NFC North, a game behind division-leading Green Bay.

Trailing by four in the final two minutes, the Cowboys had a first down at the Minnesota 19 but insisted on continuing to force the ball to Elliott when the Vikings had made it clear they were stopping him first.

Two runs netted minus-3 yards, and the Cowboys went to Elliott again on fourth down even though it was a pass. Linebacker Eric Kendricks broke up the sideline throw to Elliott, a dual threat like Cook but not on this night. He had two catches for 16 yards.

The Cowboys got the ball back with 17 seconds left, but Jayron Kearse intercepted Prescott’s desperation pass from near midfield in the end zone.

Dallas was down by four because of settling for a field goal and a 28-24 deficit after having a first down at the Minnesota 6. Another smothered run by Elliott was followed by two incompletions.

RUDOLPH’S SCORING

Rudolph started the night of circus catches with a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone and scored on another short TD toss.

Then the tight end put Minnesota up 28-21 after Cook’s scoring run by winning a jump ball with cornerback Chidobe Awuzie. Rudolph’s 14 points were the most in 122 career games for the ninth-year player.

CIRCUS TIME

With the Cowboys trailing 14-0, Cooper kick-started their first TD drive with a heel-dragging catch on third-and-12, followed two plays later by Michael Gallup’s 23-yard scoring grab.

Then the player Dallas gave up a first-round pick for at midseason last year had two toe-dragging catches in a row, the second a 12-yard touchdown that put the Cowboys in front for the first time 21-20 in the third quarter. Cooper had 11 catches for 147 yards.

Randall Cobb made a lunging catch in the end zone on a 22-yard touchdown catch to get Dallas even at 14.

BLOWOUT ON GROUND

While Cook outgained Elliott by 120 scrimmage yards, the Vikings finished with 153 yards rushing to just 50 for the Cowboys. That’s about 100 yards below Dallas’ third-ranked rushing average.

INJURIES

Vikings: RG Josh Kline was ruled out with a concussion in the second half.

Cowboys: S Jeff Heath left with a shoulder injury in the first half.

UP NEXT

Vikings: Denver at home next Sunday before their open week.

Cowboys: At Detroit next Sunday.

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Denny Hamlin adamantly insisted ’it’s not over” after a critical mistake last week put the Daytona 500 winner on the verge of elimination from NASCAR’s championship race.

He remained undeterred, confident in his chances to win Sunday at ISM Raceway and save his season with a victory that would give him an automatic berth into the final four.

He called his shot and delivered.

Hamlin snagged his first spot in the championship field since 2014 with his win, a victory that eliminated NASCAR champion Joey Logano from the playoffs and gave Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota three of the slots in next week’s decider at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“I try not to put too much into it,” Hamlin said. “There’s still work to be done. Doesn’t guarantee a championship. Gives us a chance. Live to fight another day. That’s all you can ask for.”

Hamlin, one of the favorites to win the title, faced elimination after spinning last week at Texas but took control and had the win essentially in the bag until a caution with nine laps remaining set up a final restart.

Hamlin, who had been terrible on restarts the entire race, punched his steering wheel in anger when the yellow flag waved. His Joe Gibbs Racing team made an unusual call to take just two tires — the same strategy as contender Ryan Blaney — and the two lined up next to each other for the restart with three laps to go.

Hamlin finally got a decent restart, pulled into the lead, and Gibbs teammate Kyle Busch passed Blaney to put a buffer between the two.

Hamlin then cruised to his sixth win of the season and punched the air with his fist in his car as he crossed the finish line. He jumped into the arms of his waiting crew, which he had promised earlier Sunday to give his all in an effort to make the championship field at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“This race team worked so hard this whole year. They deserve to be there,” Hamlin said of his No. 11 crew. “I put them in a bad hole last week. I told them today in the meeting, I said, ‘I’m going to give everything I’ve got to make up for the mistake I made last week.’ That’s all I got.”

Hamlin will race Gibbs teammates Busch and Martin Truex Jr., as well as Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing, for the championship. Gibbs, winner of 18 races this season, and Toyota have three of the slots in the final four.

“I feel like we are all here because we worked together,” said Truex.

Chevrolet will not be represented for the third consecutive season and Harvick races a Ford. Hamlin’s win sealed the manufacturer championship for Toyota.

Truex won the 2018 title, Busch won in 2015 and Harvick in 2014. All three raced for the championship last season against Logano, who won the finale to snag the title away from the three drivers who dominated the season. This year the final four is equally deserving of their spots in the finale — the champion has had to win the race at Homestead to claim the title every year since the elimination format debuted in 2014.

Hamlin has never won a championship, but had chances in 2010 and 2014 but had disappointing races — a decision not to take tires after a late caution took Hamlin from the lead to out of contention in the 2014 race.

“Denny has not won a championship, so you can imagine how hard he’s going to go for it,” said Gibbs.

Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Blaney and Logano were eliminated. Logano was seeking a chance to make it back-to-back titles but had a mechanical problem early in the final stage that dropped him deep into the field.

“No clue. An air pressure adjustment made it go from a winning car to not able to stay on the lead lap. That sounds ridiculous,” said Logano. “We’ll live. Everything is going to be OK. We’re still fortunate to be here and grateful to do what we love.”

ELLIOTT’S AWFUL ROUND

Elliott’s championship chances ended with a crash in the final stage. He had to win to earn a berth at Homestead after a disastrous third round of the playoffs.

NASCAR’s most popular driver had a mechanical problem at Martinsville, crashed last week at Texas and crashed Sunday when he appeared to have a tire issue that caused him to spin.

“Just a continuation of our first two weeks,” Elliott said. “I feel like we were in a good position to run solid. Not sure why we had a tire go down, I think that’s what happened. These last three weeks have been rough.”

(BY STEVE CARPENTER)
(HUTCHINSON CC SPORTS INFORMATION)
LIBERAL, Kan. – The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team’s season came to an end on Sunday in the Region VI Tournament semifinals.

Making their ninth-straight trip to the regional semis, the fourth-seeded Blue Dragons dropped a 25-13, 25-17, 25-21 decision to top-seed and NJCAA No. 3-ranked Seward County at the Green House.

Hutchinson closes its season at 14-19. Seward County moved into the regional finals against the Barton/Colby winner.

Outside hitter Katelyn Elstun closed out a good freshman season with 12 kills and three total blocks. Elstun had six kills and two blocks in the third set.

Sophomore Eden Hiebert finished with five kills, two blocks and a service ace. Freshman Jenna Thorne had four kills.

Freshman middle Jaydin Schake finished with six total blocks, including two solo stuffs. The Dragons had eight total blocks.

Sophomore Eboni Sapien finished with 17 assists. Freshman Alissa Bautista had 12 digs.

The Blue Dragons had few answers for Seward County outside hitter Yanlis Feliz, who had 15 kills. She had seven kills in the third set, the closest set of the match.

Seward County had 37 kills and 11 attack errors. The Blue Dragons had 27 kills and 23 attack errors.

The match had an ominous start as Seward County had four early blocks in a 12-4 start. The Saints collected seven blocks in the opening set as Hutchinson hit .000 in the opener.

Hutch had a 6-5 lead in the second set before the Saints started to pull away. A Jenna Thorne kill cut the Saint lead to 13-11. Then a Schake/Elstun double block make it 16-13 Seward. The Saints then reeled off five in a row to go up 21-13. Schake had a kill and two blocks in a 4-1 Hutch run that cut the Saint lead to 22-17. Seward County scored the final three points of the second set for a 2-0 match lead.

The Blue Dragons battled hard in the third set. Trailing 10-6 in the third, Elstun had a kill, Schake and Elstun had a double block and Bautista had an ace to prompt a Seward timeout and cut the Saint lead to 10-9. Seward again built a four-point lead at 14-10, but the Dragons answered back with a 7-3 run to knot the set at 17 on an Elstun kills from a Saint over-pass. Feliz then took over for the Saints with four kills in a match-clinching 8-4 run.

(BY STEVE CARPENTER)
(HUTCHINSON CC SPORTS INFORMATION)

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – One year ago, the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team needed two free throws with 3 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime and eventually defeat the Labette Cardinals.

Saturday night at the Atrium Classic at the Sports Arena, The No. 10-ranked Blue Dragons took any drama there was to me out of the game in the first 5 1/2 minutes.

Hutchinson scored the game’s first 13 points in building a 30-point halftime lead and ultimately blew out Labette 100-54 to close out the Atrium Classic.

The Blue Dragons improve to 4-0 overall and 33-14 all-time against Labette. The 46-point margin of victory over the Cardinals is the second-largest in series history. Hutch defeated Labette by 59 points in 2001 (110-59).

Four different players scored in Hutch’s initial 13-0 run – Tyler Brown hit a 3-pointer, Saquan Singleton had a basket and went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line, D.J. Mitchell had a three-point play and two more free throws later in the run and Majok Kuath scored with 14:29 to play to give the Dragons a 13-0 lead.

Labette didn’t score until Tyler Garrett hit a 3-pointer at the 13:21 mark of the first half. Garrett hit another 3-pointer with 9:51 to in the opening half to make it 18-8 Hutch. From that point, the Blue Dragons outscored Labette 25-5.

Hutch led 43-13 at halftime shooting 13 of 32 from the field with three 3-pointers and 14 of 17 from the free-throw line. Labette was just 5 of 39 with eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

The Blue Dragons were very balanced with six players scoring in double figures.

Josh Ursery led a huge 52-18 Blue Dragon advantage in points off the bench with a team-high 17 points. Ursery was 5 of 9 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line.

Brown finished with 13 points, three steals and two assists. Josh Baker hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. D.J. Mitchell, Clarence King and Kuath had 11 points each. Singleton finished with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Blue Dragons shot a season-low 47.9 percent (35 of 73), going 5 of 14 from 3-point range and 25 of 30 from the free-throw line.

The Blue Dragons had a huge 64-35 rebounding advantage with 19 offensive rebounds. The Dragons outscored Labette 54-24 in the paint. Hutch did commit 23 turnovers.

Labette shot a frigid 25.6 percent from the field (20 of 78), hitting 4 of 25 from 3-point range and 10 of 14 from the foul line. He Cardinals were led by Toraze Dobbs’ 17 points.

The Blue Dragon men will play their final home game for two weeks at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the NEO Golden Norse come to the Sports Arena.

(BY STEVE CARPENTER)
(HUTCHINSON CC SPORTS INFORMATION)

HUTCHINSON, Kan. = Freshman Tor’e Alford scored a season-high 19 points and helped push her head coach a little higher of a historical Jayhawk Conference statistical chart on Saturday at the Atrium Classic.

No. 9-ranked Hutchinson defeated NEO 74-46 on Saturday at the Arena. That was Blue Dragon head coach John Ontjes’ 350th career win. He now moves past Seward County’s Toby Wynn into sole possession of fourth place on the KJCCC’s Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Career victories list.

The Blue Dragons improve to 3-0 for the season, while NEO drops to 1-5.

Alford scored 13 of her 19 points in a second half where the Blue Dragons pulled away from the Lady Norse. The Blue Dragons led 31-21 at halftime and outscored NEO 43-25 in the second half and 21-6 in the fourth quarter alone. All 13 of Alford’s second half points came in the fourth quarter.

The Blue Dragons finished shooting 25 of 58 overall (43.1 percent), going 8 of 19 from 3-points range and 16 of 28 from the foul line.

Sophomore Abby Ogle finished a tremendous weekend with 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals against NEO. Ogle hit three more 3-pointers on Saturday. She finished the weekend with 31 points, six 3-pointers and seven steals.

Sophomore Brooklyn Betham finished with eight points and a season-high 15 rebounds. Freshman Sasha Francis also scored eight points.

NEO was 19 of 63 shooting overall (30.2 percent). The Lady Norse hit 3 of 18 from 3-point range and 3 of 8 from the foul line. The Blue Dragon defense held the Norse to 2 of 15 shooting in the fourth quarter.

Eliska Stebettakova had 14 points to lead NEO. Koreea Kirksey and Gabriela Chivata had 10 points each.

The Blue Dragons had a 44-35 rebounding advantage. NEO had 21 turnovers and the Blue Dragons had a 23-8 scoring advantage in points off turnovers. Hutch committed a season-low 14 turnovers.

The Blue Dragons will close their season-opening four-game homestand with a matchup against Hesston College at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sports Arena.