By Steve Carpenter

HCC Sports Information Director

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Six players scored in double figures and the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team ended 2008 with a 94-55 victory over the Friends University Junior Varsity on Wednesday afternoon at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons (11-3), playing their final non-conference game before Saturday’s Jayhawk West opener with Seward County, shot 50 percent or better for the third-straight game and the sixth time this season, shooing 51.5 percent (34 of 66). The Dragons tied a season high with 11 3-pointers on 18 attempts (a season-best 61.1 percent).

“We are going into our most important game of the year on Saturday against the best team we have played to this point,” HCC head coach Ryan Swanson said. “There was no way that I would want to do that without playing for three weeks.”

Freshman Darius Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 22 points, the 10th time that Johnson-Odom has scored 20 or more points.

Freshman Cody Beaton came off the bench to hit 4 of 4 3-point field goals and score a season-high 14 points.

“It was good to get in and get some time,” Beaton said. “We were just trying to work hard for our next game, starting the conference with Seward.”

Four other players scored in double figures. Sophomore Austin Bond had a season-high 12 points. Sophomore Devon McBride and freshman Tom Shirley had 11 points each and freshman Dominique Rutledge had 10 points.

Sophomore forward Cliff Dixon played for the first time in six games. He had just four points, but had eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots and three steals.

“He has a lot of energy,” Johnson-Odom said of Dixon. “We need that from him. He’s always around the ball and he plays hard. He will help us.”

The performance wasn’t perfect for Hutchinson, playing its first game in 18 days. HCC was just 15 of 27 from the free-throw line and had 20 turnovers. The Dragons outrebounded Friends 42-34. Rutledge had a game-high nine boards.

Defensively, the Dragons held Friends to 36.2 percent shooting (21 of 58), including 3 of 16 from 3-point range (18.8 percent). The Falcons were 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. John Bridges had a team-high 14 points.

The Falcons had 30 turnovers. Hutchinson had a season-high 19 steals.

“We were a little out of shape, but this game really helped,” Johnson-Odom said. “It should help come Saturday against Seward County. Saturday would have been even tougher if we didn’t play today. It was good to the Christmas and the break out of our system and get into shape.”

Hutchinson wasted no time taking control of the game, jumping out to a 12-2 lead in the first 5 minutes. HCC then went on a 21-6 lead to lead 33-10 with 5:20 to play in the first half.

Friends, though, answered that with a 10-0 run and cut the lead to 33-20 with 2:20 to play on an Eli Applegate inside bucket.

After a timeout, the Dragons reasserted themselves and closed the half on a 7-2 run, scoring on a McBride putback at the buzzer to take a 40-22 lead at halftime.

“They knew I wasn’t happy and I reminded them that I had no plans tonight,” Swanson said of taking that timeout. “We can’t afford not to get better no matter what the score is. We reminded them of that.”

HCC led 47-29 with15:56 to play in the second half and then exploded on a 19-7 run which gave the Dragons their first 30-point lead of the half at 66-36 after a Bond 3-pointer with 10:09 to play.

The Dragons then hit six 3-point goals in the final 6½ minutes of the game, four from Beaton.

The Blue Dragons open the 2009 Jayhawk West season on Saturday night at 7:30 against defending Region VI champion Seward County at the Sports Arena.

GAME NOTES – HCC’s 54-point second half tied a season high. … Johnson-Odom tied a season-high with four steals. … Shirley had a season-high four assists and tied a season high with two steals.

 

BOXSCORE

PHOTO GALLERY

 

OTHER QUOTES

Head Coach Ryan Swanson

On the balanced scoring …

“It was that kind of game. We have a lot of guys capable of scoring. I was also pleased with, especially in the second half, of making the extra pass. Anytime you shoot 60 percent from 3-point range, that’s a product of not only good shooting, but of guys helping each other out by making the extra pass.”

 

On Cody Beaton …

“It’s fun to see Cody get rewarded. He doesn’t always get to play a lot of minutes, but he always works hard in practice and he’s a great teammate. The fun thing was to see how excited the bench was. The guys were trying to get him shots and you don’t do that to somebody you don’t like.”

 

On Cliff Dixon …

“That’s the dimension Cliff can give us. He’s a very long, active, athletic player. He can score, but we need Cliff to do so many other things than score. He had a good all-around game for not playing for a month and a half.”

 

Freshman Cody Beaton

On his teammates reaction when he scores …

“They like to see me score because I don’t play much. It was good to do it in my hometown so my family could see it.”

 

On getting ready for conference play …

“The whole team is together again. We are working hard. We have some new additions. We are going to work hard tomorrow and get ready for Seward County.”