HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Blue Dragons opened the NJCAA Region VI Tournament with a 102-79 thumping of Northwest Tech on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena.
Hutchinson (20-11) will travel to Great Bend to face Barton (22-8) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
The Blue Dragons built an early lead and took a 48-29 lead into the halftime break.
They had no problems in the second half extending that lead to 30 with under six minutes left. The Dragons put the game on cruise control from that point.
HutchCC used another strong offensive night from the floor, but it wasn’t so much from behind the arc. The Blue Dragons did most of their damage in the lane, outscoring the Mavericks 58-42. Hutchinson knocked down 39-of-75 shots (52 percent), while also going a prolific 16-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Hutchinson won the battle of the boards, 44-28 for a plus-16 performance. Twelve different players collected at least one rebound. The Blue Dragons had 32 assists on 39 made field goals.
Thirteen different Blue Dragons played in the game, 12 of which scored in the win. Aaron Potter paced the HutchCC offense with 22 points off the bench, while Aaron Franklin and Dadrevius Weathers each had 14.
Keyishon Miller, Arthur Celestin and Quincy Snoddy Jr. each had 15 points to lead the Mavericks.
The Blue Dragons improved to 42-8 all-time in opening/second round games of the Region VI Tournament.
Hutchinson lost both regular-season meetings to Barton, 101-75 on Nov. 26 in Hutch and 97-89 on Jan. 28, in Great Bend.
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