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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
On Sunday, Hutchinson Community College
sophomore Bobby Maze was a scorer. Wednesday night against Barton County,
Maze was setting up his teammates again, again and again.
Maze set a school record with 16 assists in
the Blue Dragons’ 93-77 Jayhawk West victory over the Cougars at the Sports
Arena. The Blue Dragons (16-4) have won 11 in a row and are 6-0 in the
Jayhawk West for the first time since 1986.
Maze broke his own school assists record that
he established when he had 13 assists against Brown Mackie on Nov. 2. On
Sunday against Colby, Maze tied his career-scoring high of 34 points.
Against Barton County, Maze had his eighth game of nine or more assists.
“It feels good to get my teammates involved,”
Maze said. “I'm not necessarily looking to score. I have so much fun when my
teammates are involved like that. I'd rather have assists than 20, 30
points.”
Maze posted his third double-double of the
season, finishing with 12 points with five rebounds and two steaks. Maze was
one of five Blue Dragons to score in double figures.
Sophomore Ken Bowman was one point short of
tying his career high, finishing with 25 points on 9 of 12 shooting. Bowman
also had eight assists and tied a career high with five blocked shots.
Redshirt freshman Antonio Weary scored in
double figures for the 9th time in his last 10 games, finishing with 19
points, one off his career high. He also had eight rebounds and a career
high-tying four assists.
Sophomore Lamar Falley tied a season-high
with 17 points, knocking down a career high-tying five 3-pointers. Sophomore
Abdul Herrera finished with 10 points, going a perfect 4 of 4 from the
field.
The Blue Dragons shot 50 percent or better
for the eighth time this season, hitting at 51.5 percent overall (34 of 66).
They hit 9 of 18 from 3-point range and 16 of 28 from the foul line. The
Dragons outrebounded Barton County 47-42, but turned the ball over 21 times.
HCC used a stifling defense in the first half
to open a 17-point lead at halftime, limiting the Cougars to 31.4 percent in
the first half (11 of 35) and just 36.6 percent for the game (26 of 71).
Barton County hit 6 of 20 from long range and 19 of 35 from the foul line.
The Cougars had just 13 turnovers.
Chris Jackson finished with 20 points for
Barton County (14-6, 2-5). Qa’rraan Calhoun and Javin Paris had 14 points
each. Nykia Williams finished with 10 points.
Trailing 7-5, the Blue Dragons took charge
with a 17-3 run over a 5-minute span and opened up a 22-10 lead on a Bowman
alley-oop dunk from a Maze lob with 11:51 to play in the half.
Leading 22-14 at the 10:29 mark, the Dragons
put it into overdrive with a 12-1 run highlighted by dunks from Herrera and
Weary and a three-point play by Maze. Herrera’s point-blank hoop with 7:14
to play gave HCC a 34-15 lead.
A Bowman bucket with 4:22 to play gave Hutch
its first 20-point lead at 42-22. The Dragons led 52-35 at halftime.
A Calhoun 3-pointer with 11:21 to play in the
half pulled Barton County within 69-55, but that’s as close as the Cougars
drew the rest of the way. The Dragons quickly pushed the lead back to 18 on
back-to-back buckets by Weary and Bowman. Those hoops started an 11-1 run
over the next 2 minutes, 40 seconds that was capped off by a Falley
3-pointer with 8:43 to play to give Hutch its largest lead of 25 at 80-56.
HCC concludes its two-game homestand on
Saturday night with Garden City at 7:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
– The last 11-game winning streak came in 2004 when that streak reached 16.
… This is the first time that HCC has started a Jayhawk West season 6-0
since the league expanded to nine teams before the 1996-97 season. … Maze
jumped two spots on HCC’s single-season assists list to seventh place. He
now has 156 assists this season. … Bowman now has 70 career blocked shots,
which is eighth on HCC’s career block list. … HCC is now 8-0 when shooting
50 percent or better. … This is the 26th straight game for HCC to hold an
opponent to less than 50 percent shooting. … The 35 Barton County foul shot
attempts were the second most vs. HCC this season. Arkansas-Fort Smith had
39. … This was HCC’s first 90-plus point game against Barton County in the
last 16 meetings.
<HCC-BARTON COUNTY MEN'S BOXSCORE>
<HCC-BARTON COUNTY PHOTO GALLERY>
OTHER QUOTES
Head coach Ryan Swanson
On HCC’s offensive efficiency …
“Any time you get an assist on almost 80
percent of your field goals, the guys are doing a phenomenal job of sharing
the basketball and being unselfish. Against the zone, you've got to have
great ball movement, and I felt we had that tonight.”
Sophomore Ken Bowman
On HCC’s offense …
“We played great on offense. We were good in
transition and good in the half-court offense. When your point guard gets 16
assists, something good is happening.”
Sophomore Lamar Falley
On Bobby Maze’s assist total …
“It was one of our best nights offensively.
Bobby kept getting us the ball at the right times.” |
