|
By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, December 1, 2007
COFFEYVILLE – Redshirt freshman Antonio Weary had his first career double-double to
lead the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team to a 73-57
victory over Allen County on Saturday in the Jayhawk Shootout at Nellis Hall
in Coffeyville.
The Blue Dragons (7-4) earned their second
victory over Allen County in the last eight days, holding the Red Devils to
36.2 percent shooting and forcing 23 turnovers. Hutchinson outscored Allen
County 28-13 over the final 10 minutes, 44 seconds.
“We pulled away late and I kept telling our
guys that Allen has a confident group of players,” HCC head coach Ryan
Swanson said. “I honestly thought we played well today. They guys understand
that Allen was a good team and I thought we would play well. What makes me
more curious is how we will play tomorrow. We need to string some (wins)
together.”
Four different Blue Dragons scored in double
figures led by sophomore Lamar Falley, who had season highs of 17 points and
five 3-point goals. Sophomore Ken Bowman had 14 points, followed by
sophomore Bobby Maze with 13 points and six assists. Weary had his first
double-double with 11 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
HCC shot 44.4 percent from the floor (28 of
63) and were 7 of 16 from 3-point range and 10 of 15 from the free-throw
line.
The Blue Dragons had a season-low 13
turnovers.
The Dragons also got a huge lift from the
bench in the second half. The HCC bench scored no points in the first 20
minutes, but had 12 huge points in the second half. Freshman Blake Bales hit
two huge 3-point goals and finished with eight points. Sophomore Abdul
Herrera had four points and two rebounds.
“Those were huge lifts,” Swanson said of
HCC’s bench in the second half. “Blake’s a good shooter. He’s been playing
really well except the shots weren’t falling. He’s been getting closer. Now
he’s getting a little confidence and those two 3s he hit in the second half
were huge. Abdul’s minutes in the second half were huge. Sam gave Bobby a
blow and we extended the lead.”
The Blue Dragons had another stellar
defensive performance against Allen County (4-5), losers of four straight
games.
Allen County was just 21 of 58 shooting
overall and shot just 30.8 percent (8 of 26) in the second half. Perry Petty
had 17 points to lead the Red Devils.
“We had great defense the last 10 minutes,”
Weary said. “We were shaky at first, but that last 10 minutes we stepped it
up and played good defense.”
“If we rotate and get through the screens and
talk, our defense is fine,” added Bales. “That’s what we started doing then
they got close. We went out and got it back. I think we always had the
momentum.”
The Blue Dragons led practically the entire
game. The only Allen County lead was at 3-2 early in the contest.
After that short-lived Red Devil lead, the
Dragons went on a 14-2 run over the next three minutes to lead 16-5 after
two Maze free throws. Allen County then scored nine in a row to pull within
16-14 with 13:01 to play in the half.
HCC had a 9-2 run late in the half with
Falley hitting a 3-pointer, Bowman hit a jumper and Maze dropped
back-to-back buckets to lead 42-33, but Christian Hill scored with 27
seconds left and the Blue Dragons took a 42-35 lead at halftime.
Hutch led 45-40 with 17:12 to play after a
Falley 3-pointer. The Red Devils scored four straight to pull within one at
45-44 with 14:44 to play, but the Dragons answered Allen County’s challenge.
Herrerra converted a three-point play to
spark a 6-0 run and lead 51-44 after another Herrera free throw with 13:25
to go. Leading 51-47, the Dragons outscored the Devils 22-10, Bales getting
two huge treys, the first giving Hutch a 54-47 lead with 9:04 to play. The
second upped the margin to 67-52 with 5:58 to go.
“It’s important to go in and give the
starters a break and make sure everything keeps flowing,” Bales said. “The
first half, we didn’t go in and help out, but we did in the second half.
The Blue Dragons will play Fort Scott in the
Shootout finale at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Nellis Hall.
GAME NOTES
– The Dragons are now a Shootout best 35-7. … HCC is 4-0 against Allen
County in the Shootout and are 23-6 overall vs. the Red Devils. … Weary is
the third Blue Dragon with a double-double this season, joining Bowman (5)
and Maze (1). … HCC held Allen County to 35.3 percent shooting in two games.
… Allen County outrebounded HCC 45-33. It’s the third time this season Hutch
was outrebounded, but it’s the first game it won in that instance. … It’s
the seventh time this season that HCC’s defense forced 20 or more turnovers
and the sixth time that HCC has held the opposition to less than 40 percent
shooting. … Falley is the fourth Blue Dragon to lead the team in scoring
this season.
<HCC-ALLEN
COUNTY BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ryan Swanson
On the team’s reaction to Allen County’s
rally …
“I thought they showed a lot of character
when Allen came back and got close. For a minute, Allen had momentum when
the got it down to two, but our guys showed a lot of composure. Bobby wasn’t
on top of his game scoring, but the other times that’s happened, we’ve lost.
I was proud of the guys. Kenny, Lamar and Antonio were all efficient.”
Redshirt freshman Antonio Weary
On the team’s reaction to Allen County’s
rally …
“When they came back and we were up by one,
it was like they shouldn’t have been there. We are better than that. We
started to step it up and get some easy buckets.”
Freshman Blake Bales
On not taking Allen County lightly …
“We knew we had to play another hard game. We
talked about not taking them lightly and go just go out and play.” |
