HUTCHINSON, Kan.—The top two scoring teams in the Jayhawk Conference will lock-up on Saturday night at the Sports Arena when the No. 9-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team plays host to the 21st-ranked Barton Cougars.
Tipoff for the Thanksgiving Weekend showdown is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Blue Dragons lead the KJCCC in offensive scoring average at 113.3 points per game. That average was helped out a bit by a 120-118 road victory on Tuesday at Pratt. Barton is second in the Jayhawk in scoring average at 92.1 points per game.
The Cougars were stunned at home on Tuesday as Cowley held them more than 30 points under their scoring average in a 66-60 win over Barton in Great Bend.
Saturday’s game also features two of the Top 10 individual scoring leaders in the KJCCC in Hutchinson’s Aaron Franklin and Barton’s Joseph Locandro. Coming off his third 30-point game of the season - 34 points against Pratt on Tuesday - the Blue Dragons’ Franklin is leading the Jayhawk Conference in scoring at 25.7 points per game. Locandro is 10th in the Jayhawk in scoring at 17.8 points per game.
The Blue Dragons play their only home game in a 18-day stretch that covers five games. Hutchinson is 1-1 to start the five-game span with a 90-75 loss last Saturday at Cloud County and Tuesday’s win over Pratt. Next week the Blue Dragons travel to Cowley on Wednesday and to Butler next Saturday before returning home to play No. 6 Coffeyville on December 7. Saturday’s Hutchinson-Barton matchup is the 121st time the teams will play since the series began in 1970. The Blue Dragons lead the overall series 91-29, including 45-9 at the Sports Arena. The Blue Dragons have won two in a row and 4 of the last 5 matchups with the Cougars.
With 318 total Jayhawk Conference victories, Blue Dragon head coach Tommy DeSalme is closing in on fifth place on the all-time KJCCC wins list. Currently sixth, DeSalme needs three more wins to surpass Randy Smithson for fifth on the KJCCC coaching list and eighth on the all-time Region VI coaching list.
The Blue Dragons have reached 100 points seven times in their first nine games this season. The all-time record for 100-point games in a season came just last year when the Dragons reached the century mark 12 times.