CAPTION: Hutchinson Community College head men’s basketball coach Kyle Fisher, the former head coach at Butler Community College, guided the Blue Dragons to a 73-70 win over the No. 5-ranked Grizzlies Wednesday night at the Power Plant in El Dorado. CREDIT BLUE DRAGON SPORTS/HUTCHCC SPORTS INFORMATION
By John Mesh
The No. 1 Hutchinson Blue Dragon women’s basketball team defeated Butler Community College 57-53 in a low-scoring contest Wednesday night at the Power Plant in El Dorado.
The Hutchinson Blue Dragon men, who defeated No. 6 Cowley College 70-62 on Jan. 4 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, knocked off No. 5 Butler CC Grizzlies 73-70.
The Blue Dragon women notched their 15th victory of the season against zero losses and now have won 52 straight games (including last year’s 37-0 mark en route to a national title).
HutchCC improved to 9-0 in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference games and has won 37 consecutive league games.
The Butler CC women fell to 11-2 overall (6-3 in the Jayhawk Conference). The Grizzlies lost their first home game.
Hutchinson led at halftime 17-14 and outscored the Grizzlies 8-3 in the second quarter for a 25-17 lead.
Butler started the third quarter with an 8-0 run to tie the score at 25-25. HutchCC and Butler exchanged 3-pointers to make the score 28-28.
The Blue Dragons withstood Butler runs of 8-0 and 6-0 and 10-of-11 free throw shooting to lead 41-39 at the end of the third quarter.
Hutchinson’s Honey Cooney hit a 3-pointer off an assist by Kahlen Norris to give HutchCC the lead with 2 seconds left in the third quarter.
Butler took a 49-48 lead with 3:25 left in the game.
Hutchinson’s Hailey Jackson made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the score at 49-49 with 1:53 left in the game.
Hutchinson’s Madi Denison got a putback on a Jackson miss with 58 seconds to give the Blue Dragons a 51-49 lead.
Jackson sank two free throws with 24 seconds left to give the Blue Dragons a 53-49 lead.
Butler’s Keegan Yarick got a putback to cut Hutchinson’s lead to 53-51 with 14 seconds left.
Jackson was fouled with 13.5 seconds left in the game. She drained two more free throws to give the Blue Dragons a 55-51 advantage.
Butler’s Kenzie Galliart got a putback at the 8-second mark to cut HutchCC’s lead to 55-53.
Hutchinson’s Jada Pleasant hit two free throws with 6 seconds left for the 57-53 final score.
Jackson led the Blue Dragons with 17 points, including 7-of-9 free throws. Landon Forbes scored 10 points, Katie Duncan 9, Denison 8, Brynne Katcher 5, Norris 4, Cooney 3 and Pleasant 2.
Denison grabbed 11 rebounds. Norris had 3 assists.
Yarick led the Butler Grizzlies women’s team with 20 points and had 3 assists. Galliart added 15. Ashley Singateh contributed 6 pouted and 8 rebounds.
Destiny Smith scored 5 points for Butler. Mya Mayberry had 3 points and 5 rebounds. Lucia Lara scored 2 points, Alba Cunill 1 and Jaliyah Manuel 1.
For the third-straight game, Blue Dragon head coach John Ontjes, who is second on the KJCCC’s all-time coaching wins list with 498 wins, faced another coach in the Top 10. Butler’s Mike Helmer is No. 7 with 370 victories.
Ontjes has a career record of 498-96.
The Blue Dragon women’s team will play Pratt Community College at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt.
The HutchCC women host Seward County Community College next Wednesday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena (5:30 p.m.) and plays at Dodge City Community College Jan. 11 (1 p.m.).
Hutchinson men 73, No. 5 Butler men 70
The Hutchinson Blue Dragon men’s basketball team and the Butler Grizzlies battled for the 200th time Wednesday night. The Blue Dragons lead the series 130-70.
The Blue Dragon men improved to 10-5 overall (6-3 KJCCC). The Grizzlies fell to 11-3 overall (7-2 KJCCC)
The Hutchinson-Butler men’s contest had many subplots.
Kyle Fisher, the former Butler CC men’s coach for five seasons, is now the Hutchinson Blue Dragon men’s coach.
Butler’s first-year head coach is former Hutchinson assistant Eric Nitsche.
The Grizzlies feature former Blue Dragon players Russell Branch and Jojo Adeoye. Devin Kerr was recruited by both HutchCC and Butler CC and chose the Grizzlies.
“You had two proud programs (Hutchinson and Butler playing Wednesday),” Fisher said during his postgame radio interview. “I was on that side for five years. I’m thrilled to represent the Blue Dragon program. We’re glad to get out of here with a win.”
Hutchinson’s Jacquez Thornton, who came to Hutchinson from Butler along with Fisher, fired in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Blue Dragons a 35-29 halftime lead.
Hutchinson led by 11 points at 49-38 with 13:37 left in the second half. Butler went on a 24-15 run cut the Blue Dragons’ lead to 64-62 with 2:27 left in the contest.
Kobe Smith hit three free throws to push the Blue Dragons’ lead to 67-62. Bo Aldridge added two more free throws for a 69-62 HutchCC lead with 1:21 left in the game.
Kerr made two free throws for the Grizzlies to cut the HutchCC lead to 69-64. Aldridge slammed home a dunk for Hutchinson and Butler’s Devonte Reed made a layup for a 71-66 HutchCC advantage.
Reed made two free throws to cut the Dragons’ lead to 71-68 with 14 seconds left. Butler’s Josiah Kirkwood stole the inbounds pass and made a layup to cut HutchCC’s lead to 71-70 with 9 seconds left.
Hutchinson got the ball inbounds to Mikhail Abdul-Hamid who was fouled with 7 seconds left. Abdul-Hamid hit two free throws for a 73-70 victory.
Hutchinson was paced by Aldridge with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot. Thornton and DJ Dudley each scored 11 points.
Thornton, the HutchCC point guard, battled leg cramps in the final four minutes and had to sit out while Hutchinson fought off Butler. Thornton had 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
“We had to hang on for dear life without our point guard,” Fisher said.
Abdul-Hamid scored 9 points, Bobby Cannon 7, Kobe Smith 5 and Khalil Arnold 1.
Cannon grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. He averages 2.4 blocked shots a game for the Blue Dragons.
Branch led the Grizzlies with 18 points and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Kerr scored 13 points and grabbed 9 boards. Kirkwood scored 10 points, Bubba Leavell 8 and Reed 8. Adeoye tallied 2 points.
The Blue Dragon men’s team will play Pratt Community College at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt.
The HutchCC men host Seward County Community College next Wednesday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena (7:30 p.m.) and plays at Dodge City Community College Jan. 11 (3 p.m.).
Hailey Jackson earns 2nd KJCCC Conference weekly honor
Hutchinson Community College forward Hailey Jackson returned from the holiday break to post her seventh double-double of the season.
Jackson also sank a pair of go-ahead free throws to earn her second Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division I Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award on Tuesday.
The sophomore forward from Tulsa sank two go-ahead free throws with 1.2 second remaining in No. 1 Hutchinson’s 62-60 victory over Cowley on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
Jackson, the KJCCC’s leading scorer, had 18 points and 14 rebounds and went 10 of 11 from the free throw line against the Tigers, Hutchinson’s only game played last week.
With Hutchinson trailing by two points, Jackson tied the game with 48.4 seconds to play in the second half with two free throws.
Jackson also won the KJCCC Player of the Week award on Dec. 17 and one day later was named the NJCAA National Player of the Week.
HutchCC women stay at No. 1 in NJCAA Division I poll
The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team, 15-0 to start the 2024-25 season and winners of 52 straight games, still are the No. 1-ranked team in the NJCAA Division I women’s poll.
The Dodge City women are ranked No. 4. The Butler women’s team received votes.
Four men’s teams from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference are ranked by the NJCAA in Division I.
Butler Community College is ranked fifth, Cowley College sixth, Barton CC 17th and Coffeyville CC 23rd.