Trailing by as many as 13 points midway through the second half, the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team mounted a late rally on Friday night against battle-tested State Fair in the Airport Steakhouse Classic at the Sports Arena.
HCC tied the game with 12.5 seconds remaining in the game, but 51-percent 3-point shooter Antonin Galaya buried a trey with 6 seconds to play as the Roadrunners upset No. 8 Hutchinson 80-75.
The loss snapped Hutchinson’s 10-game winning streak to start the season – tied for the eighth longest in program history. It also gave State Fair its first victory over the Blue Dragons in 11 tries.
“We lost this ball game two weeks ago,” HCC head coach Steve Eck said. “We’ve started to take practice for granted, and our game Tuesday against Hesston didn’t help. We started slow in that game and came back.”
While HCC’s backcourt struggled to score all night, forwards Anthony Thomas and Alex Davis kept the Dragons from getting buried and ultimately sparked the comeback.
Thomas posted his fourth double-double of the season with a career-high 32 points and 13 rebounds. Thomas had the first 30-point game for the Blue Dragons since Joe Mitchell scored 31 in the 2010 Airport Steakhouse Classic. Davis finished with 23 points, hitting a season-high 9 of 14 free throws.
Thomas and Davis combined for 33 of HCC’s 42 second-half points as the HCC backcourt shot a combined 6 of 30 from the field. Rozell Nunn added nine points and seven rebounds.
Thomas and Davis combined to score 46 of HCC’s final 55 points of the game.
HCC shot 42.9 percent from the field (27 of 63), including 2 of 11 from 3-point range and 19 of 31 from the foul line. The Dragons outrebounded State Fair 42-39 and turned the ball over 16 times.
The Blue Dragons had a hard time containing the three-headed backcourt monster State Fair had. Kenny Chery had 19 points, hitting 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to lead the Roadrunners. Alfonzo Houston and Michael Bradley had 17 points each. Bradley had eight rebounds.
State Fair shot 45.9 percent for the game (28 of 61), hitting 4 of 18 from 3-point range and 20 of 25 from the foul line. The Roadrunners had 15 turnovers.
The Blue Dragons led 9-4 with 16:57 to play in the opening half, but State Fair took the game over, continually frustrating HCC’s backcourt and limiting penetration to the basket. The Roadrunners tied the game on a Lucas Kidane 3-pointer at 9-all. Leading 17-16 with 12 minute to play, State Fair seized control with a 9-0 run to lead 26-16 with 9:49 to play.
A Thomas 3-pointer pulled HCC within 37-33 with 1:41 to play, but Houston and Bradley scored on State Fair’s final two first-half possessions to lead 41-33 at halftime.
State Fair came out and hit 6 of its first seven shots to open the second half to build a 54-43 lead with 16:06 to play in the game. The deficit grew to 13 points a few moments later Bradley scored to give State Fair a 61-48 lead with 11: 43 to play.
The Blue Dragons started to make some defensive plays and State Fair finally cooled down in the latter stages of the second half. Nunn buried a huge 3-pointer with 5:32 remaining to make the game a one-possession deficit for the first time since early in the game at 65-64. The Dragons had five chances over the next few moments to tie or take the lead and finally tied it on Thomas’ bucket with 12.5 seconds left to knot the score at 75-all.
On State Fair’s final play, the Dragons intently kept on eye on Chery, who found a wide-open Galaya – who was 1 of 5 shooting until that moment – for a 3-point dagger from the ride side for a 78-75 State Fair lead. The Dragons turned the ball over on its final possession and Houston hit two game-clinching free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining.
“We had a lot of chances to take the lead,” Davis said. “We just couldn’t get it done and they did. They made some tough shots with a hand in their face, and that 3 was big.”
The Blue Dragons will play host to Northeast Nebraska in the final game of the Airport Steakhouse Classic. Northeast Nebraska defeated Quakerdale Prep 72-69 on Friday.
GAME NOTES – State Fair had lost two games to No. 2 Coffeyville and nationally ranked Indian Hills this season. … Leading scorer Mark Braden was 0 of 8 from the field and finished with one point. It’s only the second time in his career that Braden didn’t have a field goal in a game.
(HCC Sports Information)