STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team won consecutive games for the first time in 26 days and moved into a tie for third place in the Jayhawk West on Monday night at the Sports Arena.
Sophomore Tyler Brown scored a game-high 23 points to pace the Blue Dragons to a key 75-51 Jayhawk West victory over the Pratt Beavers. Hutchinson and Pratt split the season series.
The victory moves Hutchinson, 19-7 overall, into a tie for third place with Pratt with four games remaining in the regular season at 10-7. Seward County also won Monday to remain two games behind both the Blue Dragons and Beavers. Pratt falls to 16-10 overall. The Blue Dragons travel to Dodge City for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff Wednesday.
Brown knocked down 5 of 8 3-point goals to spark the Blue Dragons. Brown had two 3-pointers and one three-point play in an early 15-6 run that helped Hutchinson to an early 23-9 lead with 9:24 remaining in the first half.
Brown then scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half to help extend a 39-24 Blue Dragon halftime lead. He had three 3-pointers in the second half and his second three-point play gave the Dragons a 58-33 lead with 11:46 remaining.
The Blue Dragon guard from Derby surpassed the career 500-point plateau by hitting 8 of 12 shots overall and going 2 of 2 from the free-throw line. He added five rebounds and four assists.
Three other Blue Dragons scored in double figures on Monday.
Sophomore D.J. Mitchell scored 13 points with five assists and four rebounds. Freshman Clarence King came off the bench to score 12 points with a career-high eight rebounds. Freshman Josh Baker had three 3-point goals and finished with 11 points and a career-high-tying eight rebounds.
The Blue Dragons shot 41.9 percent for the game (26 of 62, hitting 9 of 25 from 3-point range and 14 of 15 from the free-throw line.
The Dragons totally turned the tables on Pratt in the rebounding department. In Hutchinson's 94-91 double-overtime loss to the Beavers in January, Pratt out-rebounded the Dragons 57-41 and had 29 offensive rebounds. Monday night the Blue Dragons out-rebounded the Beavers 44-36 and allowed only 10 offensive rebounds.
Jamel Horton led the Beavers with 23 points, hitting 4 of 6 from distance. Tommy Thomas as the only other Pratt player in double figures with 10 points.
Hutchinson held Pratt 30 points under its 81-point season-scoring average. The Beavers shot 19 of 62 (30.6 percent, going 6 of 27 from 3-point range and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line.
Pratt scored the first points of the game, but went scoreless for the next 4:52 as Hutch scored eight unanswered to go up 8-2 on a Saquan Singleton dunk with 14:58 to play. Thomas made it 8-4 with a bucket for Pratt with 14:06 remaining. That's when Brown took over for the Blue Dragons.
Leading 17-9, Brown nailed a 3-pointer and then completed a three-point play for a 23-9 lead with 9:24 to play in the half. Pratt scored the next four points, but the Dragons countered with a 14-5 run over the next 5 minutes to build a 37-18 lead on a Baker 3-pointer with 3:42 remaining in the half.
Despite shooting only 39 percent in the first half, the Blue Dragons led 39-24 at halftime.
The Dragons had runs of 11-6 and 11-2 in the first 9 minutes of the second half to lead 61-35 after a King three-point play with 11:02 remaining. Baker's third 3-pointer of the game pushed the Dragon cushion to 30 for the first time at 70-40 with 4:13 remaining.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons now own a 147-25 all-time record against Pratt, including 68-11 in games in Hutchinson. … This was all-time win No. 1,825. … The 27 points scored by Pratt in the second half was an opponent low for a second half this season against the Blue Dragons. … D.J. Mitchell surpassed the career 800-point mark (805).