Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team opens the final week of the first semester with a road game against its third-consecutive ranked opponent.
The Blue Dragons (7-5, 2-4 KJCCC) travels to meet the 21st-ranked Dodge City Conquistadors (8-3, 4-1 KJCCC at 7:30 p.m. at the Student Centers Center on the campus of Dodge City Community College.
The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and on sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) beginning at 7:15 p.m. with Sean Boston (PBP) and Daren Dunn (color) calling the action. The game will be streamed exclusively on ConqTV, a free stream provided by Dodge City Athletics.
The Blue Dragons are 1-1 on this current stretch of the season against ranked opponents.
Last Wednesday the Blue Dragons started their run of ranked opponents off right when Lolo Rudolph hit a buzzer-beater to defeat No. 15 Barton 58-57 in Great Bend. Hutchinson's didn't have the same outcome on Saturday against No. 21 Cowley. After pulling within one points with 3:58 to play in the second half, the Blue Dragons fell to Cowley 65-53.
Defensively over the last three games, the Blue Dragons have been exceptional allowing only 58.3 points and 34.5 percent shooting - both marks are the best in the Jayhawk in that span.
But the Dragon offense is in a bit of a slump. After averaging 83.1 points per game over the first nine games of the season, the Dragons have mustered only 53.0 points per game despite shooting 43 percent from the floor,
Against Cowley, sophomore Kyrell Shaw broke out of his slump with 26 points against the Tigers, but no other Hutchinson player reached double figures in the game. The Dragons shot a season-low 37.0 percent against Cowley and battled against 15 turnovers.
Dodge City has won four games in a row, coming off a strong 76-68 win at then-No. 10 Coffeyville on Saturday.
The Blue Dragons will have to deal with the Jayhawk Conference's leading scorer in Dodge City's Derrick Rivers, who is averaging 24.0 points per game. Rivers had 32 points against Coffeyville on Saturday and had a career-best 42 points against Southwestern Christian when those teams played at the Sports Arena on November 8. Rivers has broken the 30-point mark four times this season.