COFFEYVILLE, Kan. — The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team picked up a crucial 76-66 win at No. 14 Coffeyville on Monday evening inside of Nellis Hall.
The Blue Dragons are now 15-8 overall, 11-6 in the Jayhawk Conference.
Hutchinson, which was playing its first game in nine days, showed no signs of rust, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, and never really looked back.
Coffeyville held just one lead in the game, 12-11 at the 12:42 mark of the first half, the rest of the game belonged to HutchCC.
The Blue Dragons led 35-30 at halftime, after leading by as much as seven in the opening half of play.
Coffeyville pulled within three twice in the first two minutes of the second half, but never could get any closer.
After the Red Ravens pulled within 39-36, HutchCC responded with a 6-0 run to go in front 45-36. Coffeyville then pulled within 47-43, but once again the Blue Dragons had an answer, scoring the next five points, all from D.J. Dudley at the foul line for a 52-43 lead with 14:02 to play.
Coffeyville made a push to pull within 59-53 at the under-8 minute media timeout at the 6:58 mark.
The Blue Dragons scored six straight, including two assists from Bobby Cannon and a thunderous one-handed slam to ignite the 6-0 run, pushing the lead to 12 with 5:42 left.
Cannon would hit another clutch basket, a three-pointer from the right corner to put Hutch in front 72-61 with 1:10 to play, putting the game out of reach.
HutchCC was led by Dudley with a team-high 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bo Aldridge scored 22 points, to go along with five rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Bobby Cannon scored 10 points, brought down six assists and had five blocks.
The Blue Dragons got some big minutes off the bench from Amari Davis and Juvon Gamory, who made his debut. HutchCC battled foul trouble throughout the game, as Isaiah Jackson and Davis each fouled out against the much bigger Red Raven lineup.
Coffeyville was paced by Brian Griffith with 22 points, including 10 for 10 at the foul line.
Hutchinson shot 49% from the field, and knocked down 16 of 18 free throw attempts, 14 of 16 in the second half.
The Blue Dragons will travel to Garden City on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the Broncbusters at Conestoga Arena. The Red Ravens are scheduled to travel to Concordia to face Cloud County for an 8 p.m. tipoff.