By Steve Carpenter

HCC Sports Information Director

Monday, February 2, 2009

LIBERAL – The Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team suffered through another tough night on the road in the Jayhawk West on Monday as Seward County rolled past the Blue Dragons 82-58 at Seward County’s Greenhouse.

Seward County became the first time in 26 games to shoot 50 percent against the Blue Dragons. The Saints also took advantage of 25 HCC turnovers and a season’s-worst 9 of 23 performance from the free-throw line.

The result turned into the largest margin of victory for Seward County against Hutchinson in the series’ 86 games.

“I felt like we were ready to play,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “We did a great job of holding them to six offensive rebounds. We hit a stretch in the first half where we turned it over and they made a run. From that point on, it seemed like the harder we tried, the worse it became. The guys might have been thinking too much and trying too hard. As a result, we played tight against their pressure.”

Seward County used a 20-6 run over a 5-minute, 46-second stretch of the first half to break open a two-point game. The Saints hit 14 of their first 21 shots of the game. The Dragons fought back within 44-34 at halftime, but Seward County outscored HCC 38-24 in the second half.

“They had some open looks, some because we broke down defensively a little bit,” HCC sophomore Ryan Douvier said. “They were hitting a lot of shots. We had a lot of turnovers and we have to cut that way down. We have to finish when we have looks, too.”

The Blue Dragons (16-7 overall, 5-4 Jayhawk West) have lost four-straight road games. HCC will play the third of four games in eight days on Wednesday night in a 7:30 tipoff against Dodge City at the Sports Arena. Hutchinson travels to Garden City on Saturday.

“We definitely have to get ourselves together as a team,” sophomore Cliff Dixon said. “We are getting the job done on defense and rebounding, but we have too many turnovers. We cut the turnovers down and play as a team and we can be a good team. We can be a really great team.”

Dixon led the Blue Dragons with 21 points and six rebounds. Freshman Darius Johnson-Odom was the only other Dragon in double figures with 14 points. Douvier and freshman Dominique Rutledge had six points each.

The Blue Dragons shot 42.3 percent (22 of 52) from the field and 5 of 16 from the 3-point line. HCC outrebounded Seward County (17-6, 4-5) 37-27.

Seward County was 28 of 56 shooting overall and 9 of 17 from 3-point range. The Saints were also 17 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Jon Tassin hit 3 of 3 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 16 points for Seward County. Thijin Moses had 14 points, Marquez Patterson had 11 and Robert Sigala had 10.

Hutchinson had early leads of 10-2 and 11-10. The Dragons trailed by five when Johnson-Odom canned a 3-pointer with 11:46 to play to cut the Seward lead to 18-16. The Saints pulled away with a 20-6 run that gave Seward a 38-22 lead after a Sigala bucker with 6 minutes left in the half.

The Dragons weathered that storm and had the game within eight points with 32 seconds left on a Javari Williams follow-up dunk. But Tassin hit a jumper with 1 second left on the clock to take a 44-34 halftime lead.

Patterson and Sigala hit back-to-back 3-pointers on Seward County’s first two second-half possessions to seize control of the game. The Dragons committed 13 second-half turnovers as Seward County built leads as large as 29 in the final moments of the game.

GAME NOTES – The previous largest losing margin to Seward County was 19 points, which occurred in 1971. … This was HCC’s seventh-straight game of 20 or more turnovers. … HCC is now 63-23 all time vs. Seward County. HCC is 25-15 in Liberal. … This game was only the fourth in the Ryan Swanson era in which a team shot 50 percent or better in a single game. … HCC is 2-5 on the road this season. … Hutch and Seward County split the season series for the second-straight year.

 

BOXSCORE

 

OTHER QUOTES

Head Coach Ryan Swanson

On if Wednesday’s game vs. Dodge City is a must win …

“Unfortunately we’ve taken advantage of only one road victory, so from this point on, all of our home games can be considered must wins. There isn’t going to be a whole lot of difference from second through seventh in the league. Wednesday is a must game, more than anything for morale. Our guys are really hurting after two tough losses. We need a win.”

 

On the poor free-throw shooting …

“One key factor was our inability to make free throws. If we shoot a reasonable percentage from the line in the first half, instead of being down 10, we are down four. That’s a whole different feel to the game. We took care of the rebounds, we did not take care of turnovers. You can’t shoot 39 percent from the line. With our size and ability to attack the rim, we should shoot a lot of free throws.”

 

On more than one player to step up in the same game …

“Cliff stepped up and played well. If we can get these guys playing well together at the same time, we are going to be good. The guys never quit. It wasn’t a lack of effort or not being ready to play. We need to build on that. We didn’t fall apart. We stayed together and played hard, we just didn’t play well.”

 

Sophomore Ryan Douvier

On if Wednesday’s game vs. Dodge City is a must win …

“Coach said it’s all about character now. We are going to get home late tonight and we have one day to get ready for Dodge City. It will be tough, but we have to win that game.”

 

On if Saturday’s loss to Cloud had an effect on Monday’s game …

“Everything has an effect. It made this game a lot tougher.”