By Steve Carpenter

HCC Sports Information Director

Saturday, January 31, 2009

CONCORDIA – Patrick Schulte hit two 3-point field goals in the final minute of overtime on Saturday, the last with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift Cloud County to a 71-70 Jayhawk West victory over the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team at Cloud County’s Thunderdome.

Hutchinson (16-6) completes the first half of the Jayhawk Conference Western Division season with a 5-3 record, tied with Butler in second place. Hutchinson will have a quick turnaround and travel to Seward County at 8 p.m. on Monday in Liberal.

Cloud County (15-7, 4-4) forced HCC’s first overtime game of the season late in regulation when Eric Ray hit his first 3-pointer of the season with 4 seconds remaining to tie the game at 59-all.

In overtime, freshman Tom Shirley buried a baseline 3-pointer with 1:02 to play that gave Hutch a 68-64 lead. Schulte, who missed 5 of his first 6 treys in regulation, scored on Cloud’s next possession with 45 seconds left to pull within 68-67. Then with HCC up 70-68, Schulte hit a trey from the top of the key with 3.2 seconds left for a 71-70 T-Bird lead.

Darius Johnson-Odom, who played a season-low 19 minutes because of foul trouble, had a good look from about 32 feet, but the final shot was just off the mark.

“We came out and played hard,” sophomore Cliff Dixon said. “They came up with the play to win it. They made a good shot at the end.”

“That’s a really good team,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “They’ve had some tough losses, but they have some quality wins and they were picked second in the West for a reason. They made some plays and we made some plays. They made one more at the end.”

Hutchinson lost for the first time this season when shooting 50 percent or better and outshooting an opponent. The Dragons shot 51.2 percent overall (21 of 41), just 5 of 13 from 3-point range and 23 of 39 from the free-throw line.

Dixon finished with 24 points, including seven points in overtime. Shirley and Johnson-Odom had 10 points each. Freshman Dominique Rutledge had nine points and a season high-tying 13 rebounds.

HCC was outrebounded 41-36, but gave up 16 offensive boards that led to a 16-2 deficit on second-chance points.

Cloud County got 13 points each from Andrew Taylor, Eric Marshall and Schulte. Chris White-Ready had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, six were offensive boards.

The Thunderbirds were held to 40.3 percent from the field (27 of 67), 6 of 23 from 3-point range and 11 of 31 at the free-throw line. The T-Birds turned the ball over 16 times.

This was HCC’s third-straight Jayhawk West loss on the road, but unlike blowouts at the hands of Butler and Colby, the Blue Dragons showed plenty of resiliency against Cloud County.

“The end result is a loss,” Swanson said. “There was no part of me that felt good about those other two games. I’m very proud of the way these guys competed today. They showed a lot of heart and resiliency. I had a feeling this morning that we were going to play well.”

Hutchinson found itself down 11-2 with 15:55 to play, but answered Cloud’s initial run with a 12-2 run over the next 6 minutes to take a 14-13 lead on a Dixon hoop. Cloud County regained the lead two possessions later and maintained the advantage all the way to halftime where the T-Birds led 25-22.

White-Ready scored on Cloud’s first possession of the second half to go up 27-22, but a 7-2 Hutch run capped by a Shirley 3-pointer tied the game at 29-all with 17:24 to play in the second half. The Dragons went on a 12-6 run where sophomore Austin Bond scored and Dixon added two free throws to give HCC a 45-39 lead with 10:42 to go, but Cloud battled back and took a 51-50 lead on Schulte’s first 3-pointer of the game with 8:03 to play in regulation.

Trailing 56-55, freshman Chris Banks intercepted a pass and scored uncontested with 51 seconds to play for a 57-56 lead. Dixon knocked down two free throws with 20 seconds left for a 59-56 lead. Then Ray, who had taken only two 3-pointers all season, hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.

There were three lead changes and two ties in the extra session. Two Dixon free throws with 2:46 left gave the Dragons a 65-64 lead, and then Shirley canned a trey from the left baseline for a 68-64 lead with 1:03 to play. That set up Schulte’s heroics for Cloud County in the final minute.

In overtime, HCC was 3 of 4 from the field, while Cloud County was 3 of 8. The Thunderbirds had three big offensive rebounds in the extra session and Hutchinson had three turnovers.

GAME NOTES – HCC is now 35-14 all-time vs. Cloud County, 12-11 in Concordia. … The Dragons are 0-3 all time in overtime against Cloud County. … HCC is now 2-4 in road games.

 

BOXSCORE

 

OTHER QUOTES

Head Coach Ryan Swanson

On getting the ball inside in the second half …

“One thing I stressed at halftime what that Cliff and Dominique had only three shots between them in the first half, and that’s not acceptable. We talked about getting them the ball. Cliff made plays. His teammates sensed that he was playing really well, so they kept going to him.”

 

On playing more than half the game without Darius Johnson-Odom …

“We have a lot of good players. We have other guys who can step up and I was proud of them. This league is too hard to ever sit Darius out for long periods of time just to try and get other people experience. That’s the first time he’s been in big-time foul trouble. I was really proud of the other guys. They were confident and stepped up and made plays. Darius played less than half of the game and we still almost won.”

 

Sophomore Cliff Dixon

On his reaction to a tough loss …

“It was a tough game. I don’t know what to say, but this was a tough game. We just came up a little short.”

 

On what was said in the locker room at halftime …

We played good defense. We were down three points at halftime, coach told us to step the defense up and get the ball inside a little more. Our turnovers in the first half hurt.