By Steve Carpenter

HCC Sports Information Director

Saturday, January 3, 2008

The Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team rallied from a six-point deficit in the final six minutes to upend No. 15 Seward County 76-69 in the Jayhawk Conference Western Division opener for both teams on Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

With the victory, HCC moves into sole possession of second place on the NJCAA’s all-time wins list with 1,510 victories, Entering play on Saturday, Hutch and Moberly Area Community College were tied for second on the all-time list. Moberly doesn’t play again until Jan. 10.

The Blue Dragons (12-3, 1-0 Jayhawk West) won their second-straight Jayhawk West opener with a 19-8 run over the last 5 minutes, 58 seconds and by holding the nation’s ninth-best offense to a season-low 69 points and 36.1 percent shooting.

“They all played hard and they played physical,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “To hold Seward to 69 with all the turnovers that we had was an amazing feat. I give a lot of credit to Chris Banks, who guarded one of the best players in the conference. He challenged Chris, but his defense was a huge reason we won the game.”

“We just wanted to play D and get the defensive rebounds late in the game,” freshman guard Darius Johnson-Odom added. “We were giving them too many second-chance points. We stopped them late and we got some transition points and got up and down the floor.”

Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 21 points to lead HCC to its fourth-straight victory.

Freshman Dominique Rutledge had his third double-double in five games with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Cliff Dixon posted his second double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Sophomore Devon McBride scored in double figures for a 13th-straight game with 14 points.

The Blue Dragons shot 43.3 percent overall (26 of 60) and were just 4 of 15 from 3-point range. The Dragons hit some crucial free throws, knocking down 20 of 26 from the stripe.

The Dragons outrebounded Seward County 45-42, but committed 25 turnovers and had a season-low eight assists.

Seward County (13-2), which lost its second straight after reeling of 13-straight wins to start the season, shot a season-low 36.1 percent (26 of 72) and was just 4 of 21 from 3-point range and 13 of 17 from the free-throw line. The Saints had 19 turnovers.

Antonio Smith scored 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting. Latiq Agard, Seward’s leading scorer with a 22.1 points-per-game average, was held to 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting before leaving the game in the second half with an injury. Drew Jones had 13 points.

“It’s huge, especially against a team like Seward County,” Johnson-Odom said. “They came in 13-1 and are so disciplined. It was a big win.”

The Blue Dragons got off to a great start racing out to an 18-6 lead in the first 6:01 of the game. Seward County slowly climbed back into the game, pulling within two points twice.

McBride’s jumper with 3:08 to play in the half gave HCC a 38-33 lead, but the Dragons went scoreless the rest of the way. Marquez Patterson’s 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the half knotted the contest at 38-all at intermission.

Tied at 45-all with 14:55 to play in the second half. Back-to-back jumpers by Jones gave the Saints a 53-47 lead with 12:06 to play. The Saints had two other six-point leads (57-51 and 63-57), but the Dragons answered each time.

With Seward up 63-61, HCC freshman Tom Shirley hit his only bucket of the game, draining a 3-pointers from the right baseline for a 64-63 Dragon lead with 4:18 to play. The lead changed hands four more times over the next 1 minute, 13 seconds, but the Dragons took the lead for good on a Johnson-Odom basket with 3:05 to go (68-67).

“It’s great to start out conference play with a victory,” Shirley said. “Seward is well coached. It also shows that we have grown up a little since the start of the season.”

The Dragons held Seward County to no field goals and just two points over the final 3:19 of the game.

Leading 72-69 with 14 seconds to play, Shirley hit two free throws and Lazarius Johnson also hit a pair to clinch the victory.

The Blue Dragons travel to Dodge City on Wednesday.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 63-22 all-time against Seward County, 37-4 at the Sports Arena. … This was Johnson-Odom’s eight-straight game with 20 or more points. … Rutledge’s 13 rebounds were a season high and tied for the second most this season. … This was Rutledge’s fifth-straight game scoring in double figures. … There were six lead changes and four ties in the game. … Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant was in attendance on Saturday night.

 

BOX SCORE

PHOTO GALLERY

 

OTHER QUOTES

Head Coach Ryan Swanson

On Tom Shirley’s clutch 3-pointer …

“Tom had confidence because he works hard in practice and he comes in here a lot and gets shots up on his down. His has confidence and that’s the reason he knocked that shot down. He’s a heck of a player.”

 

On Darius Johnson-Odom …

“Darius is a very special player. He was really tired. He’s the kind of guy that if you can keep the game close in a possession game, I like my chances with the ball in his hands.”

 

On winning the conference opener …

“You have to protect home court. We were proud that we were the only team in the league that won all of our conference home games.”

 

Freshman Darius Johnson-Odom

On Seward County …

“Seward County’s a really good team. They play hard and are disciplined. We just played hard. We practiced hard on their offense and defense and it showed today.”

 

Freshman Tom Shirley

On his 3-pointer in the second half …

“Somebody hit me with a nice pass. I have enough trust in my shot that I was going to shoot it when I am open. It doesn’t matter when the three is, it just happened to be at the end of the game.”

 

On his free throws …

“There was a little pressure. You have a big crowd and it’s a one-and-one. You just have to calm down, take your time and shoot like you can.”