BLUE DRAGONS HEAD TO GARDEN CITY ON SATURDAY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Friday, December 1, 2017

The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team's key December stretch makes a stop in Garden City on Saturday night to take on the Broncbusters.

Tipoff at Garden City's Conestoga Arena is set for 8 p.m. 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) with Glen Grunwald calling the action at 7:50 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 7:50 p.m.

The Dragons actually opened this key stretch of games on Wednesday at the Sports Arena as Hutchinson defeated Colby 89-65. A few minutes after the Blue Dragons defeated the Trojans, they moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Jayhawk Conference after Allen defeated previously unbeaten Barton in Iola.

Heading into play on Saturday, the Blue Dragons (9-1), Barton (9-1) and Coffeyville (9-1) are all tied for first place in the Jayhawk at 5-1. Immediately behind those three teams is a Garden City team (8-2, 4-2) that has reeled off three-straight victories over Allen, Independence and Dodge City.

After Saturday's battle at Garden City, the Blue Dragons remain on the road on Wednesday to play at Butler in El Dorado and then close the first semester out with a home game on December 9 against Barton.

The Blue Dragons remain No. 2 in the Jayhawk Conference in scoring offensive at 92.9 points per game. They are third in field-goal percentage at 49.1 percent. Hutch leads the conference in assists (18.6 apg), is second in blocked shots (5.6 bpg) and is third in steals (10.7 spg).

Defensively, the Blue Dragons are allowing 66.3 points per game with opponents shooting 35.7 percent from the field.

J.J. Rhymes continues to set the scoring pace for the Blue Dragons at 18.3 points per game, which ranks second individually in the Jayhawk Conference. Devonte Bandoo is at 14.5 points and James Rojas is at 10.7 points per contest.

Garden City (8-2) leads the Jayhawk Conference in blocked shots at 9.1 rejections per game. Jeff Otchere averages a league-best 4.4 blocks and Jamir Thomas averages 2.2 blocks per game.

Five players average in double figures for Garden City led by Russhard Cruickshank at 12.6 points per game. He is shooting 44.1 percent from 3-point range with 26 makes this season. Kendale Hampton shots 63 percent from distance with 17 makes. Theo Holloway shoots 31.7 percent from long range with 13 games.

Garden City averages 82.3 points per game while shooting 49.9 percent overall and 38.3 percent with an average of 7.2 made 3-pointers per game.