EMMIE BOESE
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Blue Dragons knocked off Chipola College in front of a packed crowd or as Head Coach Tommy Desalme calls it, "The sixth man." The Blue Dragons beat Chipola 78-71 on Tuesday night.
"These kids, man they balled tonight," Desalme said. "They had confidence and I'm wanting them to shoot it more. They were locked in today and I thought that was really really special."
Desalme said his team needed to come out "ready to play with intensity" against Chipola. The Blue Dragons did just that by jumping on Chipola early with a 23-9 lead at the 7:23 mark in the first half.
"When you make shots early, I think it really frees up your team," Desalme said. "It really frees up your players."
Hutch led 37-26 at halftime. Sophomore guard Landon Wagler and sophomore guard Kamryn Thomas iced several threes in the first to help Hutch get ahead. Wagler was 3-5 from the field in the first half and 1-3 from the 3-point line. He finished the night with a career high 20 points.
"It's on me," Desalme said. "He (Wagler) should have been playing more earlier. He always had my back and he always had his teammates back. He's not pouting over there. He's not doing anything. He's just all about Hutch and he's got a lot of bloodlines at Hutch."
Hutch's quick offensive transition led to baskets. Sophomore guard J.P. Ricks set a career high of 10 assists against Chipola and freshman guard Kobe Smith had 6.
"You know and then you are looking up there in the second half and you are like come on there clock run," Desalme said. "We had just a moment there where we weren't getting aggressive. They got a steal. They trapped Kobe in the corner and then from that point on we were really staying aggressive against their trap. Anytime you make Chipola leave their zone, that's a good day," Desalme said.
Wagler said he and his teammates felt confident about being able to attack the rim after watching film on Chipola.
"They are good defensively, but there's some major gaps that you can fill in there," Wagler said.
Defensively, Hutch recorded six steals, 24 defensive rebounds and eight blocks. Desalme said sophomore guard Kernan Bundy did a great job of coming off the bench and locking in on Chipola's sophomore guard Joshua "Greedy" Williams in the last several minutes of the game. Williams led Chipola with 22 points.
"He wasn't letting him catch it and if he did catch it, it was catching it out there 30 feet from the basket and that's what sophomores do," Desalme said.
The Blue Dragons will play Connors State in the quarterfinals tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. The Cowboys are led by Veteran coach Bill Muse who has been with Connors for 32 seasons.
"He's an old school ball coach you know and they run a great high-low (offense)," Desalme said. "It's old school but we can do some things if we bring our pressure and things like that."
Tomorrow night's play-by-play will be taken care of by Glen Grunwald and Rick Kraus on Country 102.9 and KWBW 1450 AM/98.5 FM.