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Hutchinson Community College

BLUE DRAGONS WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Andrew Carpenter/HCC Sports Information
Andrew Carpenter/HCC Sports Information
March 25, 2017

HCC Sports Information
Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Hutchinson Blue Dragons are National Champions.

The Hutchinson Community College won the program's third men's basketball national championship on Saturday night with an 84-58 victory over Eastern Florida State in the NJCAA Tournament Championship Game at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons have now won national championships in 1988, 1994 and 2017. It's Hutchinson's sixth overall national championship in school history.

Hutchinson sophomore Shakur Juiston was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Juiston joins Maurice Brittian (1988) and Roy Hairston (1994) as Blue Dragon national tournament MVPs.

Juiston finished with tournament highs of 88 points and 56 rebounds. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.

Joining Juiston on the all-tournament team are sophomore Samajae Haynes-Jones and freshman J.J. Rhymes.

Head coach Steve Eck was named the Coach of the Tournament. This is Eck's first Division I national championship after winning won in Division I with Redlands Community College. This was Eck's first Divisoin I national title game victory in three tries - one at Redlands and two at Hutchinson.

To get to the 2017 national championship, the Blue Dragons had to defeat three Florida teams. Hutch defeated St. Petersburg (95-78) in the second round, Northwest Florida State (88-79) in the semifinals and Eastern Florida State in the championship game.

The Blue Dragons got off to a tremendous start, especially on the defensive end. Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to four points over the first 12 minutes of the game in building a 21-4 lead with 8:38 to go in the first half.

Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to 7 of 33 shooting in the first half (21.2 percent) as the Blue Dragons led 39-16 at intermission.

Devonte Bandoo led the Blue Dragons with 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting, including two 3-point goals. Rhymes had 11 points.

The Blue Dragons were 34 of 69 from the field (49.3 percent), hitting 5 of 16 from 3-point range and 11 of 16 from the foul line. The Blue Dragons were out-rebounded 49-45, but had only had only 10 turnovers to 29 assist.

Defensively, Hutchinson limited Eastern Florida State to 29.3 percent from the field (22 of 75). The Titans hit 6 of 22 from 3-point range and were 8 of 11 from the foul line. Eastern Florida State turned the ball over times.

Shaq Carter had 14 points, while Ahmed Ali and Michael Nuga had 12 points.

Juiston posted his fourth double-double of the tournament and led Hutchinson on Saturday with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Hutchinson's career rebound leader ends with 742 rebounds.

GAME NOTES - The Blue Dragons are now 3-3 in national championship games. Hutch improves to 48-24 all-time in 20 tournament apperances. ... Shakur Juiston moves up to No. 14 on the career scoring list with 1,042 points and up to fifth in career blocked shots with 117 rejections.