By John Mesh
The winning streak is now five in a row for the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team.
The Blue Dragons came from behind in the second half to defeat Pratt Community College 87-77 Saturday at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt.
The Blue Dragons improved to 11-5 overall and 7-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. The Pratt Beavers dropped to 8-7 overall (4-5 KJCCC).
Hutchinson played without starting point guard and leading scorer Jaquez Thornton, who was injured in the Blue Dragons’ 76-73 win over Butler Community College Wednesday in El Dorado.
The Blue Dragons trailed 38-25 with 3:56 left in the first half. The Blue Dragons cut the deficit to 43-38 at halftime with a 13-5 run.
Kahlil Arnold, Mikhail Abdul-Hamid and Bo Aldridge combined for 35 of HutchCC’s 38 halftime points.
Hutchinson led 50-49 with 14:38 left in the second half, but Pratt went on a 9-2 run to take a 58-52 lead with 11:49 left in the game.
Hutchinson’s Bobby Cannon drilled two 3-pointers and a 2-pointer to put the Blue Dragons ahead 62-58 at the 9:59 mark. Hutchinson led 80-70, but Pratt cut the deficit to 80-75 with 1:51 left in the game.
Hutchinson’s Aldridge hit a jump shot to make the score 82-75 with 1:22 left in the game. Arnold then hit a 3-pointer with 1:09 left and HutchCC led 85-75.
Aldridge hit two free throws to make the score 87-75. Pratt made a jump shot to make the final score 87-77.
Five Blue Dragons scored in double figures and tallied 83 of the team’s 87 points.
Arnold scored a career-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Aldridge added 19 points, Abdul-Hamid 15, Cannon 14 and DJ Dudley 13. Isaiah Jackson scored 4 points.
Five Beavers also scored in double figures figures, led by Jarrett Dingle with 20 points. Hunter Vaughn scored 14, Parker Whisenhunt 12, Joseph Opareke 12 and Raza Majid 10.
Ajiet Akot added 9 points for the Pratt Beavers.
Saturday’s game was the 182nd all-time meeting between Hutchinson and Pratt. The Blue Dragons lead the series 154-28. The Blue Dragons are 7-3 against Pratt in the last 10 games.
The Blue Dragon men host the Seward County Community College Saints at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Hutchinson plays Dodge City Community College at 3 p.m. next Saturday at the DC3 Student Events Center in Dodge City.
Game notes: The officials for the Hutchinson-Pratt men’s game were Kaden Tichenor, Zach Goldberg and Daniel Little.
Tichenor is from Holcomb, near Garden City. His father is Major League Baseball umpire Todd Tichenor, who has umpired World Series games.
Hutchinson boys 7th, girls 10th at Dodge City wrestling tourney
The Hutchinson High School boys wrestling team placed seventh in the two-day Dodge City Invitational with 113 points.
The Salthawk boys closed out the final round by winning 12 out of 13 matches.
The Hutchinson Salthawk girls wrestling team placed 10th with 53.5 points — two spots better than last year’s finish at the tournament.
The meet took place at Dodge City’s United Wireless Arena.
Hutchinson boys results
106: Dion Brown freshman 2-6 8th place
106: Tommy Perkins freshman 2-5 9th place
113: Cruz Cannon sophomore 5-2 3rd place
120: Daniel Jimenez freshman 1-9 18th place
132: Kameron Wilson freshman 4-4 8th place
138: Alex Stowell senior 5-4 7th place
144: Ayden Robidoux junior 3-16 13th place
150: Cooper Harris sophomore 5-3 9th place
157: Max Harris sophomore 7-2 5th place
165: Kade Smith senior 7-1 3rd place
175: Jackson Anderson junior 5-4 6th place
190: Kevin Wilson senior 1-7 13th place
215: Skylar Ray senior 5-3 7th place
Hutchinson girls results
100: Aaida Brown freshman 2-3 7th place
105: Chloe Bell freshman 0-4 10th place
115: Alexa Lewis freshman 2-3 10th place
120: Ruby Foster sophomore 1-3 8th place
125: Sophia Zwickl junior 3-2 3rd place
130: Kierra Martinez senior 1-4 9th place
135: Emma Mathias freshman 1-3 10th place
140: Baleigh Cousins freshman 1-3 10th place
145: Renna Ehling freshman 0-4 9th place
155: Jaden Durant junior 1-4 8th place
170: Jillian Ferguson senior 2-3 8th place
Halstead girls wrestling team 7th, boys 8th at Herington tournament
The Halstead boys and girls wrestling teams traveled to Herington Saturday for a 15-team tournament.
Out of 15 teams, the Halstead girls placed seventh and the Dragon boys placed eighth.
Halstead varsity boys results
Clayton Considine 4-1 3rd
Connor Mintie 0-5
Ethan Mosher 0-2
Quintin Thieme 0-5
Logan Overton 3-2 5th
Riley Queen 4-1 3rd
Connor Herman 4-1 2nd
Halstead JV boys results
Levi Snow 2-3 4th
Daniel Lipani 0-2 3rd
Jaylyn Ledford 0-3 4th
Halstead varsity girls results
Kahlyn Davis 3-1 2nd
Parker Metoyer 2-2 4th
Alexis Westfall 0-2 3rd
Addison Thompson 1-2
Ava Armstrong 1-3 5th
Correction: Mulvane girls upset McPherson
The Mulvane High School girls basketball team defeated McPherson 50-32 Friday night.
McPherson teams won the other four games: Varsity boys 76-40, JV boys 47-41, JV girls 33-29 and 9th grade boys 55-26.
On Saturday at the Little River gymnasium, the St. John boys defeated Little River 55-46 and the Little River girls defeated St. John 49-21.
Friday night, the Reno County Homeschool Sabres girls basketball team defeated Flint Hills Christian 55-41.