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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Hutchinson Community College men’s
basketball team committed a season-high 26 turnovers as Division II Johnson
County upended the Blue Dragons 80-68 on the final night of the Brooke
Insurance Thanksgiving Classic at the Sports Arena.
Making its first trip to the Sports Arena
since 1999, Johnson County snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Blue
Dragons (5-4). The Cavaliers converted those 26 HCC turnovers into 36
points.
“They have over half of their points off
turnovers in the first half,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “I thought
we did a pretty good job on defense in the halfcourt, but you can’t defend
against turnovers. They were just careless turnovers. We would make a run
and they would turn us over and that kills the rally right there.”
Johnson County (6-1), which went 2-0 this
weekend, took control of the game with a 10-0 run over a 3 minute, 43 second
stretch of the first half to build a 35-24 lead with 3:35 to play. The
Cavaliers never relinquished the lead in the second half. The closest HCC
got was three points twice, the final time with 10:22 to play in the game.
Johnson County then closed out the Dragons with a 17-5 run over the next 6
1/2 minutes.
“They played good defense. We made too many
turnovers,” said redshirt freshman Antonio Weary, who had a season- and
time-high 20 points. “We didn’t make smart passes and we are rushing
everything.”
“We didn’t come ready to play,” added
sophomore Lamar Falley, who had 14 points. “We weren’t as aggressive as they
were and today our key thing was turnovers. We had too many turnovers that
affected us.”
Defensively, the Dragons did a solid job
holding the Cavaliers to 44.9 percent shooting (31 of 69). Quinton Totta had
18 points to lead Johnson County. Kyle Speed had 14 and David Yadrich had 10
points. The Cavaliers were 8 of 22 from 3-point range and 10 of 17 from the
free-throw line. They also outrebounded the Blue Dragons 40-35, including
15-7 on the offensive boards.
Four different Blue Dragons scored in double
figures. After Weary’s 20 and Falley’s 14, sophomore Bobby Maze had 12
points and sophomore Ken Bowman had 10 points.
The 68 points scored were a season low for
HCC, which shot 42.9 percent overall (25 of 56) and was just 5 of 18 from
3-point range. HCC shot 15 of 18 from the free-throw line.
Weary’s bucket with 7:46 to play in the first
half tied the game for the fourth time at 24-all. After Johnson County hoops
by Totta and Kyle DeBerg, Falley dropped a 3-pointer with 6:22 to play at
Hutch trailed 25-24.
The Cavaliers then went on a 10-0 run capped
off by a Yadrich layup off an HCC turnovers to lead 35-24 with 3:35 to play
in the half. The Dragons closed the half on a 7-2 run and trailed 37-31 at
halftime after Falley’s layup just before the first-half buzzer.
Johnson County’s 8-2 run over the first 1:45
of the second half boosted its lead back to double figures, but HCC answered
with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to pull within 45-40. The Dragons
maintained that margin and then pulled within three points at 54-51 with
10:22 to play on two Weary free throws.
The Cavaliers took control from that point
with a 17-5 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes.
The Blue Dragons will get a rematch with No.
10 Coffeyville on Tuesday night at the Sports Arena. Coffeyville edged the
Dragons 76-74 on Nov. 17. HCC will then travel next weekend to the Jayhawk
Shootout in Coffeyville to play Allen County on Saturday and Fort Scott on
Sunday.
GAME NOTES
– Antonio is the third Blue Dragon this season to record a 20-point game. …
This is the seventh time in nine games that HCC has had 20 or more
turnovers. … Bobby Maze and Ken Bowman continue to be HCC’s only players to
score in double figures in every game. … Sophomore Henry Rogers had 11
rebounds, which was his fourth-straight game with double-figure rebounds …
Johnson County’s bench outscored HCC’s 33-7.
<HCC-JOHNSON COUNTY BOXSCORE>
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OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ryan Swanson
On if the Dragons took a step backward …
“Yes. I don’t think we take anybody for
granted as a coaching staff, but I didn’t feel like we had a particularly
good shootaround. Our warm-up wasn’t that good and I think we took a pretty
good team lightly. It showed in the final score.”
On getting production from other players …
“Our bench guys have to step up. Especially
when Bobby was off his game like he was tonight. Bobby cannot play at the
level he played at last night for 30 games. The bench has to make plays.
Right now we aren’t getting enough guys making plays.”
Sophomore Lamar Falley
On the turnovers …
“They played good defense, but that’s no
excuse to have 26 turnovers.” |
