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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Sophomore Lamar Falley hit a free throw with
2.1 seconds remaining to help the 14th-ranked Hutchinson Community College
men’s basketball team to a 70-69 victory over Northern Oklahoma-Enid on
Saturday night in the final game of the Grand Prairie Hotel Classic at the
Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons (3-2) saw a 20-point lead
with 14:23 to play in the second half completely disappear and trailed 69-67
with 1:15 left to play in regulation. Sophomore Bobby Maze hit a pair of
free throws to tie the game at 69-all with 1:04 to play.
HCC then had to survive its 26th turnover of
the game with 27 seconds left and dug down to get a defensive stop when
NOC’s Aaron McHenry’s floater in the lane missed and Ken Bowman rebounded
and hit Falley with the outlet downcourt. Falley was fouled with 2.1 seconds
left. He made the first free throw and missed the second; Enid got off a
halfcourt shot and wasn’t’ close at the buzzer.
“I knew that Kenny got the rebound and I had
to sprint down the court and he saw me,’ said Falley, who finished with only
four points, but had three assists and two steals. “I knew the guy behind me
was going to foul me, so I had to hit the free throws.”
The Blue Dragons shot 42.9 percent (21 of 49)
and was 4 of 7 from 3-point range. The Dragons knocked down 24 of 39 free
throws. The Dragons had a 40-36 rebounding advantage.
Sophomore Bobby Maze had a game high-tying 19
points, hitting 9 of 13 from the free-throw line. Maze also had a season-low
six assists and four rebounds. Bowman had his third double-double of the
season and seventh of his career with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore
Antonio Weary and freshman Austin Bond had seven points each.
“We had a good lead against good
competition,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “We relaxed and stopped
doing the things that got us the lead … that was good defense and taking
care of the ball on offense. Momentum’s not a light switch. You just can’t
turn it on an off when you want. It’s too easy to give up momentum against a
team like Enid and it’s too hard to get it back.”
The Jets (2-2) shot 43.6 percent (24 of 55)
for the game, but were a sizzling 57.l percent (16 of 28) in the second half
to fuel their comeback. NOC-Enid knocked down 3 of 11 3-pointers and was 18
of 29 from the free-throw line.
Andre Vaughn scored 19 points and McHenry
added 12 points to lead the Jets, who committed 27 turnovers, the most the
Blue Dragons have forced this year.
NOC-Enid went on a small 6-0 run to take a
24-22 lead with 3:19 to play in the first half. The deficit could have been
much worse, but after a personal foul called on Henry Rogers and a technical
foul assessed to the HCC bench, the Jets missed three of the four free
throws.
A pair of Sam Edwards free throws with 3:13
to go sparked a 17-3 Dragon run to close the half. Bond hit a pair of clutch
free throws and Rogers and Bowman added big dunks to help Hutch take a 39-27
lead into the locker room.
HCC opened the second half on a 14-6 run and
led 53-33 with 13:23 remaining after Falley hit a baseline 3-point goal. NOC-
Enid went on to outscore HCC 31-15 over the next 9 minutes, 10 seconds and
took the lead for the first time since midway through the first half on
Wayne Rundels’ free-throw with 4:04 to play.
The Blue Dragons will play host to the Bethel
College Junior Varsity at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
GAME NOTES:
The Blue Dragons complete the Grand Prairie Hotel Classic 2-0. … HCC is now
2-0 against NOC-Enid, winning both games by a combined total of four points.
… There were 50 total fouls and two technical fouls called. NOC-Enid was
whistled for 28 points. Three Jet players and HCC’s Henry Rogers all fouled
out. … NOC-Enid scored 31 points off of HCC’s 25 turnovers. … There were
eight led changes and 11 ties.
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OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ryan Swanson
On letting a lead slip away, but
rebound to win ...
"They showed a lack
of composure and maturity in putting them away. They showed a heart, a lot
of character and a lot of guts to give up a 20-point lead, to go down by two
points and make played at the end to win the game. For that, it does show a
lot of character."
On HCC's style of play ...
"We are showing
more and more of how we need to play. We are learning how we need to play.
We are getting closer. We were a fun team to watch and a fun team to coach
for about 26 or 27 minutes. When we get that closer to 35 or 36 minutes, we
can put together something special."
Redshirt freshman Antonio Weary
On letting a lead slip away, but
rebound to win ...
"We got too
excited. We let up on defense and they came back. We can’t let up any more.
We have to play the whole game. We can’t play half the game and let them
come back like that. I was shocked. We knew they were a good team, but we
can’t let up period."
On what they learned from this game ...
"It was a big
lesson earned. We have to keep it going. You come out hard, you have to
finish hard."
Sophomore Lamar Falley
On what they learned in this game ...
"Once again, we had
the lead and people relaxed. We cant’ turn it on like a light switch. We
have to realize we can’t do that. That was too close." |
