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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Hutchinson Community College men’s
basketball team started the game hitting 16 of its first 18 shots and
produced the second-largest blowout in series history against Dodge City
after the Blue Dragons’ 83-43 Jayhawk Conference Western Division triumph on
Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons (19-6, 9-2 Jayhawk West)
shot 63.3 percent in the first half and finished shooting a season-high 59.6
percent.
The Dragons rode their initial offensive
onslaught to a 22-3 run over the first 7 minute, 31 seconds of the game.
Leading by 15 at halftime, the Dragons left no doubt to the outcome starting
the second half on a 10-0 run.
“I told our guys at halftime that we were up
15 and if this becomes an eight-point game and if you do that, you risk
losing this game,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “We haven’t started the
second half very well in the last three games. I told the group who started
the second half that if they didn’t start the second half like they started
the game, they would be coming out.
“They came out the second half and got the
ball inside, got good shots and defended and put the game pretty much out of
reach and not let Dodge get back into it. Hopefully that’s a sign that we
are growing up as a team.”
HCC’s victory, coupled with Barton County’s
double-overtime victory over Seward County on Wednesday, leaves the Blue
Dragons alone in first place in the Jayhawk West.
The 40-point margin of victory was the second
largest in the 160-game series between Hutchinson and Dodge City. The
largest was 42 points (92-50), which came in the national championship
season of 1988.
The Blue Dragons had a stellar night on both
ends of the floor.
Offensively, HCC shot 34 of 57 (59.6
percent), only shooting 1 of 4 from 3-point range. The Dragons shot 14 of 23
free throws. They had a season-low nine turnovers and outrebounded the
Conquistadors 43-38.
Sophomores Bobby Maze and Abdul Herrera and
redshirt freshman Antonio Weary all finished with 16 points. Maze finished 8
of 12 from the floor and had eight assists. Weary was a perfect 8 of 8 from
the field, with four dunks. Herrera’s 16 points was a season high and came
on 8 of 11 from the free-throw line with eight rebounds.
Also in double figures was sophomore Ken
Bowman, who had a solid all-around game with 10 points, five rebounds, three
assists, four blocked shots and two steals. Sophomore Henry Rogers just
missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
“We played defense and we played as hard as
we can go,” Maze said. “We wanted to leave everything on the court. When we
got tired, we have subs to come in. We are capable of doing that. We have to
come out with killer instinct and ready to bring it every day.”
Defensively, HCC was impressive, holding
Dodge City to 43 points for the second-straight game. The Conquistadors
(12-13, 4-8) were limited to 27.1 percent shooting (16 of 59), just 1 of 13
from 3-point range and 10 of 24 from the free-throw line. The Conqs had 11
turnovers.
Ty Patterson finished with 10 points to lead
Dodge City. Sonny Soloman and Corey Perkins had eight points. Leading scorer
Anthony Harris was held to six points on 3 of 12 shooting before being
ejected from the game midway through the second half.
HCC was clicking right away, establishing
inside play. The Dragons were up 8-0 just a little more than 2 minutes in.
After a Jase Herl 3-pointer finally got Dodge City on the board, the Dragons
went on a 14-0 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes to cap off a 22-3 start after
Herrera’s point-blank with 12:29 to play in the half.
A Maze jumper with 6:42 to play gave HCC its
first 20-point lead of the game at 34-13. After that, Dodge City closed the
half on a 13-7 run and trailed 41-26 at halftime.
“We talk about coming out strong every second
half,” Herrera said. “We just haven’t been able to accomplish that until
tonight. Hopefully we will keep doing that. We hope we have that fixed.”
The Dragons left nothing to chance to start
the second half, opening on a 10-0 run in the first 2 1/2 minutes and led
51-26 with 17:32 left to play after a Weary basket.
The Dragons used another 10-2 run to open its
first 30-point lead after Herrera sank four-straight free throws to give HCC
a 61-30 lead with 14:39 to play.
After Dodge City cut the lead back down to 23
at 63-40 with 9:26 to play, the Dragons held the Conquistadors to just one
field goal and three total points the rest of the way, closing on a 20-3
run, holding Dodge City scoreless for the final 4:04 of the game.
The Blue Dragons will travel to Pratt on
Saturday night for an 8 p.m. tipoff.
GAME NOTES
– HCC is now 102-58 all-time vs. Dodge City, 51-19 in Hutchinson … This was
HCC’s first season sweep of Dodge City since 2004. … The 86 combined points
scored by Dodge City vs. HCC are the fewest for the Conquistadors in the
series since 1948 (90 points). … In the last two second halves against
Butler and Dodge City, HCC’s defense has given up just 13 field goals on 64
attempts (20.3 percent). … The Dragons are 9-0 when shooting 50 percent or
better. … Ken Bowman is now eighth on the HCC single-season blocked shots
list with 49 and tied for fourth on the career blocked shot list with (90).
… Bobby Maze is now tied for fourth on HCC’s single-season assist list with
185. … This was the fourth time this season that HCC has held an opponent to
less than 30 percent shooting. … This was victory number 1,494 in Blue
Dragon history. … Henry Rogers had his sixth double-figure rebounding game
of the season.
<HCC
MEN-DODGE CITY BOXSCORE>
<HCC-DODGE CITY MEN'S PHOTO GALLERY>
OTHER QUOTES
Head coach Ryan Swanson
On his team’s strong start …
“To go 16 of 18 to start the game, that’s as
good a start I’ve ever had a team have. “
On Abdul Herrera …
“Abdul stands out because he hasn’t had many
games like that, but he’s capable. That’s the Abdul we see in practice every
day. If he will be as physical in games as he is in practice, he will have a
lot of big nights.”
Sophomore Abdul Herrera
On the dominant play of the team …
“We were trying to make point from some
comments made. We wanted to show them how we can play.”
On his big performance …
“I’ve been lifting extra weights and
conditioning more, so I can do this more. We are going to work harder in
practice to get this done.”
Sophomore Bobby Maze
On the strong second-half start …
“It’s something you have to do to be a
championship team. You have to come out strong in the second half and put
teams away. You have to come out with a lot of intensity when you are up.
This game was the best game we’ve had coming out in the second half and
putting a team away.”
On Abdul Herrera …
“That’s the best game Abdul’s had. We are
used to seeing that in practice every day. He’s a big-time prospect.” |
