[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
Photo courtesy of Joel Powers, Blue Dragon Sports Information
CONCORDIA, Kan. — The No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team climbed back from the abyss once on Wednesday night against Cloud County at the Thunderdome. The Blue Dragons weren’t able to do it a second time once in overtime.
James Rojas got a desperation shot to bounce in at the end of regulation to send the Jayhawk Conference contest into overtime, but Cloud County’s Solomon Finley nailed a back-breaking 3-pointer 1:41 into overtime and the Blue Dragons dropped their first game of the season, 82-79 in overtime.
The Blue Dragons fall to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk Conference. Hutchinson suffers its first loss since the 2017 Region VI Tournament championship game to Coffeyville. That was a span of nine games – the first four wins of the streak came in the 2017 national tournament on the way to the 2017 national championship.
The Dragons looked to be done in regulation after Finley hit a long 3-pointer from 26 feet with the shot clock running down to give Cloud County a 71-67 lead with 27 seconds to play. Robert Whitfield countered with a Dragon 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to pull with 71-70. Finley hit 1 of 2 free throws with 4.4 seconds left. The Dragons spend the ball up the floor and got it to Rojas, who got a friendly bounce on his desperation shot to tie the game at 72 and send it to overtime.
Rojas scored again to tie the game at 74 with 3:53 to go in overtime. But Finley, who had four 3-pointers in the game, nailed another long trey with 3:19 left. Cloud scored six unanswered points as Hutchinson went scoreless for 3 minutes, 4 seconds. A J.J. Rhymes’ basket with 34 seconds to go drew the Dragons within 80-79. Those free throws were the only points in the final 3 1/2 minutes as Cloud County outscored the Dragons 10-7 in overtime.
Rhymes scored a season-high 29 points and posted his first double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Whitfield scored 17 points with three 3-pointers for the Blue Dragons. Rojas added 13 points and six rebounds for the Blue Dragons. Devonte Bandoo was next with seven points.
Hutchinson shot a season-low 32.9 percent (23 of 70), going 5 of 21 from 3-point range and 28 of 44 from the free-throw line. Hutch owned a 53-50 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over a season-high 22 times.
Finley finished with a team-high 16 points to lead Cloud County. Finley knocked down 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Ramion Burt had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Alvin Thomson had 15 points.
The Thunderbirds shot 35.1 percent (27 of 77), going 4 of 14 from 3-point range and 24 of 36 from the free-throw line. Cloud had 16 turnovers.
Hutchinson trailed at halftime for the second-straight game, 32-31. The Dragons had a 24-18 lead in the first half on a Bandoo dunk, but the Thunderbirds closed the half on a 14-7 run.
Tied at 32 in the second half, Cloud County scored eight unanswered points and led 42-34 after a Burt dunk with 16:36 to go. The Dragons got back within 52-51 after a Whitfield layup with 9:57 to play. Hutch trailed by one point four different times after that, but never regained the lead in the final 20 minutes.
Hutchinson closes a four-game road trip on Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest at Pratt.
Blue Dragon women drop second straight
[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
CONCORDIA, Kan. —– Trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, the No. 12-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team fought back against Cloud County to tie the game with 2:37 to play in regulation.
The Blue Dragons never could grab the lead late as a Kelsi Mueller 3-pointer gave Cloud County the lead for good with 2:08 to go and the Thunderbirds went on to defeat the Blue Dragons 70-63 on Wednesday at the Thunderdome.
Hutchinson falls to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons conclude a three-game road swing to open the Jayhawk Conference season at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Pratt. Cloud County improves to 5-0 and 2-0 in league play.
The Blue Dragons shot 51 percent from the floor for the game (25 of 49), but turnovers continue to hamper their overall output. The Dragons committed 21 turnovers to Cloud County’s 12. The Thunderbirds owned a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Freshman forward Dejanae Roebuck led Hutchinson with 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Roebuck was 5 of 11 shooting with one 3-pointer.
Freshman forward Jada Mickens was the only other Blue Dragon to score in double figures with 11 points. She added nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
Sophomores Alicia Brown and Kayla Barber scored nine points each. Tia Bradshaw and Sara Cramer scored six each.
The Blue Dragons were 6 of 15 shooting from long range and 7 of 9 from the foul line. Rebounding was tied at 28, although the Thunderbirds were a plus-five on the offensive boards.
Cloud County shot 41.4 percent for the game (24 of 58), going 5 of 15 from 3-point range and 17 of 18 from the free-throw line. The Thunderbirds had just 12 turnovers.
Mueller scored a game-high 24 points, hitting 4 of 11 3-pointers to lead the Thunderbirds. Camille Awa Baud and Scout Frame had 15 points each.
Trailing 34-26 at halftime, that deficit grew to 13 after an Awa Baud 3-pointer with 8:39 left in the third gave Cloud County a 39-26 lead. A Mickens 3-pointer at the 8:05 mark of the period stopped that Cloud County run. The Dragons then slowly whittled away at that deficit. Roebuck’s layup with 2:18 left in the third quarter cut the Cloud lead to 47-42. The Dragons trailed 53-46 after three quarters.
Down 55-46 early in the fourth, Kelsey Brett started the Blue Dragon comeback with a 3-pointer at the 8:51 mark. That started an 11-2 Hutchinson run and the Blue Dragons tied the game at 57 with 5:19 to go on a Mickens jumper. The Dragons tied the game again at 59 on a Barber basket with 4:06 to go and at 61 on Tia Bradshaw’s basket with 2:37 remaining.
Mueller hit a huge 3-pointer for Cloud County with 2:08 to go. The Dragons immediate got down the floor and scored in transition with a Bradshaw layup with 1:53 to play to pull within 64-63. Cloud County went on to score the final six points of the game to defeat the Blue Dragons at Concordia for the first time since 2007.