By Steve Carpenter

HCC Sports Information Director

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cliff Dixon scored a season-high 27 points to power the 20th-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team to a rugged 88-78 victory over Clarendon College on Friday night in the first night of the 2008 Airport Steakhouse Classic at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons (7-0) were pressured full court for the entire game by a deep Bulldog team. HCC had to overcome the absence of Lazarius Johnson and a season-high 28 turnovers. The Dragons turned the ball over 19 times in the second half when Clarendon amped up the defensive pressure.

HCC also overcame season-long free-throw problems, hitting 84 percent in the second half, including 8 of 8 free throws in the final minute to put the game away. HCC came into the contest hitting only 56.7 percent for the season.

“We’ve been working on free throws quite bit in practice,” HCC freshman Tom Shirley said. “Coach hasn’t been happy with our free throw shooting. We’ve been doing quite a few free-throw drills in practice and tonight it paid off.”

“It was very important. Our free throws won the game,” said Dixon of the free-throw shooting.

The Blue Dragons shot 48.4 percent overall (30 of 62), but were shut out from long range going 0 of 8 from the 3-point line. Overall, the Dragons were 28 of 38 (73.7 percent) from the free-throw line, 21 of 25 in the second half.

Darius Johnson-Odom finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Devon McBride added 10 points and Austin Bond had 10 points, going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.

“We haven’t had a close game yet,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “While I disappointed in the number of ball-handling errors we made and turnovers, hopefully we grew up and learned from it. One positive was our free-throw shooting. With the game on the line in the second half, our guys hit 84 percent in the second half.”

Clarendon (3-3) shot 35.7 percent from the field (32 of 91), just 2 of 18 from the 3-point line and 12 of 20 from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 18 times, but had 15 steals. Danny Agbelese had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead Clarendon.

HCC outrebounded Clarendon 54-46, but the Bulldogs had 25 offensive rebounds. All told, Clarendon scored 26 points off turnovers and 21 points after offensive rebounds.

“I don’t know if we were due for one,” Shirley said. “We overlooked them a little bit and we got a little ahead of ourselves and thought we were better than we were. A team like that can beat anybody if they get going. We had an off night and didn’t have our heads in it, but we came out with a win.”

There were two lead changes and one tie early in the game. Neither team seized control until the Dragons went on a 10-2 run – highlighted by three transitions dunks – pushed the margin to 26-15 with 7:57 to play in the opening half.

HCC maintained that cushion and pushed it to 12 when Dixon hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left to give Hutch a 39-27 lead. But Clarendon hung around despite shooting just 29.7 percent in the first half. Nick Price Agbelese scored the final two buckets of the first half and Hutch led 39-21 at halftime.

Clarendon completed an 8-0 run with the first two scores of the second half and cut the Dragon lead to 39-35 with 19:12 to go. But the Dragons re-asserted themselves with a 13-5 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes and led 52-40 after a Dominique Rutledge putback with 13:43 to play.

A Bond transition layup with 10:42 to play pushed the lead to 62-47, HCC’s largest lead of the game. But Clarendon’s pressure started to take full effect in the final 10 minutes. The Bulldogs got the lead down to four points four different times, but HCC thwarted each comeback. The Dragons put the game away at the line with eight free throws in the final minute.

The Blue Dragons conclude the Airport Steakhouse Classic against McCook Community College at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

GAME NOTES – This was Dixon’s third-highest collegiate output of his career. While playing for Motlow State last season, Dixon had 35 points against the Arkansas Tech JV, 34 points against Gadsden State and 27 points against Chattanooga State. … This was the first meeting between Hutchinson and Clarendon since 1983. HCC is now 7-2 all-time against the Bulldogs. … The 28 free throws and 38 free-throw attempts were season highs for the Dragons. … This was the seventh-straight game HCC has held an opponent to less than 40-percent shooting.

 

HCC-CLARENDON BOXSCORE

McCOOK-NORTH LAKE BOXSCORE

PHOTO GALLERY

 

OTHER QUOTES

Head Coach Ryan Swanson

On Cliff Dixon …

“He’s a fluid player and sometimes the game comes easy to him. He plays hard some of the time. We need him to play hard all of the time to get to where we want to get to. He’s a big-time talent.”

 

On the constant Clarendon pressure …

“Darius turned it over a lot. A lot of that was due to fatigue and that the referees allowed the game to be played physical. He will get better with that in games in the future like this.”

 

Freshman Tom Shirley

On the game’s physicality …

“That was pretty physical. It was the most physical game yet. They had a bunch of stocky guys who can pound it inside and go to the offense glass. That’s tough for us being one player short.”

 

Sophomore Cliff Dixon

On the team not playing to the level it did in the first six games …

“We are a better team that we showed today.”

 

On the game’s physicality …

“It was pretty physical. They put a lot of pressure and double team a lot. We didn’t have a scouting report on them, so we just played them the best way we could.”