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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Three days ago, the Hutchinson Community
College men’s basketball team walked out of the Sports Arena humbled after a
12-point loss to Johnson County.
Tuesday night, the Blue Dragons walked out of
the Arena ecstatic after a 72-62 victory over No. 12 Coffeyville.
“When we play unselfishly and play together
and play hard and believe in each other, we can win,” said HCC sophomore
Bobby Maze, who was a catalyst for the rebound victory after Saturday’s
80-68 loss to Division II Johnson County.
Maze had his fifth 20-point game of the
season, pouring in 25 points to go with eight rebound, nine assists and two
steals to lead the Blue Dragons to its first win over Coffeyville in six
games.
Sophomore Ken Bowman had his fifth
double-double of the season and ninth of his career with 10 points and 14
rebounds. Sophomore Lamar Falley had 11 points.
The Blue Dragons (6-4) shot 28 of 63 from the
floor (44.4 percent) and 8 of 18 from 3-point range. HCC was just 8 of 14
from the free-throw line, but outrebounded Coffeyville 50-44. The Dragons
also stayed under 20 turnovers for only the third time this season with 19.
“This team hopefully understands that it
doesn’t matter who we play we can win,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said.
“Also, any team that we play can beat us in return. It all comes down to
coming to practice, coming to shootaround and coming to games ready to play.
We didn’t do that Saturday and we did it tonight. Hopefully the guys
understand now.”
The Dragons had a stellar defensive
performance against the Red Ravens (6-2), who had their five-game winning
streak snapped.
The Ravens shot just 23 of 67 from the floor
(34.3 percent) and were 8 of 29 from long range. Coffeyville also shot a
poor 8 of 19 from the free-throw line.
Guard J.J. Seymore, who primarily had Maze
and freshmen Sam Edwards and Blake Bales defending him, finished with 24
points, but on 9 of 23 shooting, 4 of 13 from 3-point range. Seymore was the
only Raven player to score in double figures. All-American candidate Daniel
Payne had nine points and eight rebounds.
The game was tight early. Coffeyville grabbed
its only lead of the game on an Antoine Branch transition layup with 13:51
to play for an 11-10 Raven lead. The Dragons struck right back on a Maze
layup just 36 seconds later for a 12-11 HCC lead.
From that point, Hutchinson took control of
the game, outscoring Coffeyville 27-11 over the rest of the first half. The
Dragons closed the opening 20 minutes of play with a 10-0 run over the final
2:50 of the half. Bowman started the run with a dunk, and then Falley added
a baseline 3-pointer, Antonio Weary had a jumper, Maze scored with a
penetrating move to the bucket and Bowman finished the run with 1 of 2 free
throws with 4 seconds remaining on the half to give HCC a 39-22 halftime
lead.
The Dragons’ lead never fell from double
figures, although Coffeyville put on its best offensive run of the night
late in the second half.
The Dragons’ lead grew to 20 points for the
first time with 9:17 to play on Henry Rogers’ 3-point bucket for a 62-42
lead. With HCC up 68-48, Coffeyville went on a 12-2 run that was capped by
Terrance Hill’s trey with 1:30 to play that pulled the Ravens within 70-60.
“Coach talked to us and said that we weren’t
as prepared against Johnson County and we didn’t look ready to play,” said
Maze, who had his third game of nine or more assists. “I told the guys
yesterday that there is nothing we should worry about except school and
Coffeyville. That’s what they did. Today was the best shootaround we had all
year and guys were focused.”
The Blue Dragons will be in Coffeyville this
weekend for the annual Jayhawk Shootout. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, HCC will
play Allen County for the second time this season. At 7 p.m. on Sunday, HCC
will play Fort Scott.
GAME NOTES
– The last win over Coffeyville came in the 1993 Region VI Tournament. … The
Blue Dragons are 4-0 vs. Coffeyville in the Sports Arena and 6-3 all-time in
Hutchinson. … HCC leads the overall series 22-13. … HCC and Coffeyville
split the regular season home-and-home series. HCC dropped a 76-74 decision
to the Red Raiders on Nov. 17 at Coffeyville. … Coffeyville blocked a
season-high seven shots against the Blue Dragons. … The Blue Dragons had
several contributors with 10 different players scoring, nine different
players getting rebounds and six different players delivering assists. …
Antonio Weary had his fifth-straight game with three or more steals.
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OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ryan Swanson
On the defense of J.J. Seymore …
“We felt like we needed to play Bobby as many
minutes as we did. We needed a win. We needed to prove to ourselves that we
could beat Coffeyville. There’s no way he could have done that if Sam
Edwards and Blake Bales wouldn’t to have combined to play such great defense
on Seymore. They didn’t score a lot of points, but Seymore had his 24
points, but he had to take 13 threes to do it.”
On the overall defensive effort …
“I thought our defensive effort was
outstanding. It all started that Sam and Blake did on their point guard.
Lamar and Antonio did a great job on Payne. He’s been shooting 43 percent
from 3 and we held them to 1 of 7. They only got eight points off turnovers
and Saturday night we gave up 36.”
Freshman Sam Edwards
On beating Coffeyville after losing to
Johnson County on Saturday …
“When we play hard as a team, we win. As long
as we play hard and keep playing as a team, we can keep winning. We are
going to stay hungry and focused and not let up.”
On the defense of J.J. Seymore …
“We wanted to try and wear him down. We know
he is a great guard and he’s going to hit some shots, we wanted to take
turns and wear him down some. Last time, we didn’t know what he could do,
this time we were prepared.”
Sophomore Bobby Maze
On the overall defensive effort …
“Defense was better. Coffeyville is a
terrific basketball team. We were prepared this time. Coach did a great job
of preparing us. We watched a lot of tape on them and we were well prepared
to win this game.”
On the performance of Sam Edwards and
Blake Bales …
“I tell Sam and Blake that they are just as
important to the team as anybody. They did a good job on Seymore as well.
When then come in and they are on their game, it helps the team out. You
have to give them a lot of credit because they came in and played their
heart out.” |
