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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Hutchinson Community College men’s
basketball team dropped its first season opener since 1996 as the Hamilton
College Aliens invaded the Sports Arena and pulled off a 97-90 upset over
the Blue Dragons on opening night of the 2007 Quarterback Classic at the
Sports Arena.
Hamilton College, ranked 21st in the NJCAA
Division II preseason poll, defeated the 14th-ranked Blue Dragons for the
first time in seven tries. The Dragons had their season-opening win streak
snapped at 11 games. The last season-opening setback was 61-60 to Division
II Rose State in the 1996 Quarterback Classic.
The 97 points allowed on Thursday were the
third-most points ever surrendered by the Blue Dragons and the most since
Malcolm X scored 95 in the 1997 season opener.
The Blue Dragons saw a 16-point first-half
lead with 1:38 to play in the first half cut in half by halftime.
“Everything was going our way,” HCC head
coach Ryan Swanson said. “We were shooting a really good percentage and we
took a couple of bas shots and missed. They got out in transition and hit a
couple of threes. That was the difference. We had a chance to bury them and
they cut it to a single-digit lead at halftime and we let them back into the
game.
“That point wasn’t where we lost the game,
but we could have won it right there.”
HCC opened the second half with a 7-2 run to
open the second half and led 57-44 with 17:55 to play in the game. Ten
minutes later, the Aliens took their first lead. Hamilton took the lead for
good with 3:45 to play on a Brenden Finney 3-pointer and closed the game on
a 16-5 run.
“We got too comfortable,” said sophomore
guard Bobby Maze, who had 22 points, six rebounds and nine assists to lead
the Blue Dragons. “We started shooting way too many threes. It was our first
big challenge and I know the guys were hyped up. We just didn’t execute as
well. I take this game is a learning experience.
“The next time we are in this situation, we
can’t let this happen again.”
The Blue Dragons had four players score in
double figures. Sophomore Ken Bowman had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Redshirt freshman Antonio Weary had 13 points and eight rebounds in his Blue
Dragon debut. Sophomore Lamar Falley had 12 points, hitting 4 of 10 3-point
goals.
Hutchinson shot 40.3 percent from the field (31 of 77), but only 35.9 percent in
the second half against Hamilton’s wide 2-3 zone defense. The Dragons hit 12
of 31 3-pointers (38.7 percent) and were 16 of 22 from the free-throw line.
HCC had 18 turnovers, which Hamilton scored 13 points from.
The Aliens had five score in double figures
led by the triple-double of Lamar Wilbern, who had 14 points, 11 rebounds
and 11 assists. Wilbern added five steals.
Hassan Stewart had a huge double-double with
22 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Andrew Anderson had 21 points, while Aaryon
Williams added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Hamilton shot 45.6 percent (36 of 79) from
the field, shooting a sizzling 52.6 percent from the floor in the second
half (20 of 38). The Aliens knocked down 12 of 31 3-pointers and were 13 of
22 from the stripe.
Where the Aliens won the game came on the
boards in the second half. Hamilton was able to pull down 13 offensive
rebounds in the second half and convert them into 18 second-chance points.
Overall, the Dragons had a 48-45 rebounding advantage.
“(The Aliens) were getting offensive rebounds
and they were scoring that second basket,” said Weary, who was in foul
trouble most of the night. “We didn’t’ have good block-outs and they were
getting their hands on every loose ball. This was a wake-up call. There’s no
time to play games. We have to turn it up.”
Hamilton came out gunning, popping a pair of
threes in the first minute to lead 8-2. HCC quickly regained control with a
19-8 run over the next 5 minutes, 13 seconds to lead 21-16 with 12:31 on a
Blake Bales jumper.
Hutch slowly continued to build its
first-half lead, and when Bales, who had eight points, hit his jumper with
1:38 to play in the first half, HCC led 50-34. The Aliens quickly took
momentum into its locker room when Jacob Bartling hit a pair of 3-pointers
in the final minute to cut the HCC lead to 50-42 at halftime.
A Bowman three-point play with 17:55 to play
in the second half upped the Blue Dragon lead to 57-44, but Hamilton started
to chip away from there. The Dragons still led 63-52 with 14:32 to play, but
Hamilton seven straight to pull within 63-59 with 12:58 to go.
A Maze drive to the hoop gave HCC an 85-81
lead with 4:23 to go, but Hamilton scored eight straight points to take the
lead for good. Finney’s bucket with 3:45 to play gave the Aliens the lead
for good at 86-85 with 3:45 to play.
The Blue Dragons will play Brown Mackie on
Friday in their second Quarterback Classic game at 7:30 p.m.. Brown Mackie,
ranked No. 17 in Division II, lost to Division I, No. 11 Arkansas-Fort Smith
89-44 on Thursday. Hamilton will meet Arkansas-Fort Smith at 3:30 p.m. on
Friday.
Game notes
– The symmetry to HCC’s last season-opening loss is quite similar. In 1996,
Division II Rose State upended the Dragons in the Quarterback Classic. That
team went on to win the 1997 Region VI Tournament. … Freshman guard Sam
Edwards was suspended indefinitely for violation of team rules. … HCC is now
58-19 in season openers and 63-14 in home openers. … Joliet Junior College
scored the most against HCC in a season opener, posing 103 points in 1977, a
115-103 Dragon victory.
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OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ryan Swanson
On Hamilton seizing the momentum …
“We looked, for whatever reason, tired. I
thought we looked a step slow. When they made their run, I thought we
started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We sprinkled in some
bad shots and we gave them a lot of momentum and they capitalized on it.”
On the second-half defense. …
“Defensively, we could not combine a stop
with a defensive rebound. They started the game getting a tone of offensive
rebounds and they jumped on us. When we started limiting them to one shot,
that’s when we built our big lead. In the second half, we played extremely
soft. Give a lot of credit to Hamilton. I thought we got out-hustled and
out-toughed. There’s no excuse for that.”
On Hamilton’s offensive rebounding in
the second half …
“When you give a team 19 extra opportunities,
it makes things worse. Give them a lot of credit. They made shots . That
team is a very, very tough matchup for us. They are strong, physical at all
spots. They have no true post players, but they all can shoot it. Our big
guys didn’t do a very good job of guarding on the perimeter and our guards
didn’t help them out.”
Sophomore Bobby Maze
On playing right away after the loss …
“It’s a great thing to be playing again
tomorrow night. We need to get this bad taste out of our mouths. We don’t
want to lose in this gym again.”
Redshirt Freshman Antonio Weary
On Hamilton’s second-half comeback. …
“We should have come out stronger in the
first five minutes of the second half. We let them take some good shots. We
weren’t getting back. It was really on us. It was a big disappointment. We
have to come out the next game and turn it up. We can’t let this happen
again.” |
