DRAGONS DOWN COLBY; ECK WINS 600TH JUNIOR COLLEGE GAME

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team tied a season high with 12 3-pointers and gave their head coach a milestone victory on Saturday at the Sports Arena.

Coaching his fourth NJCAA team, Eck reached 600 junior college coaching wins as the No. 17 Blue Dragons were on fire from beyond the 3-point line in a 95-76 Jayhawk West victory over Colby.

Eck, who has coached at Butler County, Redlands, Cowley and Hutchinson, reached 600 wins in 705 games coached. Eck, who will be inducted into the NJCAA Coaches Association Hall of Fame in March, is Hutchinson's career leader in coaching wins with 278.

The Blue Dragons improve to 18-3 overall and 9-3 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson travels to Barton on Wednesday in Great Bend. Colby falls to 12-9 overall and 7-5 in the Jayhawk West.

Hutchinson tied a season high with 12 3-pointers in 18 attempts. At one point, the Blue Dragons hit 10 of their first 14 attempts from distance against the Trojans. The Dragons knocked down 4 of 6 3-pointers in the first half in building a decisive 44-27 lead. The Dragons hit six 3-pointers in the first 7:46 of the second half to extend their lead to 68-43 with 12:14 to go in the game.

D.J Mitchell was a perfect 4 of 4 from 3-point range. Chris Giles hit his first four shots from long range and finished 4 of 5. Tyler Brown had a season-high three 3-pointers to aid in the 3-point barrage. The Dragons tied their season high when they hit 12 against NOC-Enid on November 6.

Mitchell led four Blue Dragons in double figures with 17 points, hitting 6 of 6 field goals.

Sophomore James Rojas returned to the line-up after missing the last five games and finished with 16 points. Giles also had 16 points. Brow finished with nine points. Saquan Singleton had eight points and eight rebounds.

The Blue Dragons shot 51.5 percent (35 of 68) and went 13 of 23 from the foul line. Hutch was out-rebounded for the fourth time in the last five games 41-40.

Colby shot 39.4 percent from the floor (26 of 66), going 4 of 19 from 3-point range and 20 of 34 from the three-throw line.

Eddie Davis scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Trojans. Craig Beaudoin had 11 and Moses Bol had 10 points.

The Blue Dragons trailed early 10-7, but Giles hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Dragons a 13-10 lead. Those treys sparked what became an 18-2 run. Two Malique Jacobs free throws with 8:45 left gave Hutch a 25-12 lead.

Giles hit his third 3-pointer of the half with 1:46 left to give Hutch its first 20-point lead at 40-20. The Blue Dragons his 18 of 36 shots in the first half to Colby's 9 of 31 shooting and the Blue Dragons took a 44-27 lead at halftime.

Hutch continued to blister Colby from long range. Three Brown treys early in the second half upped the margin to 24 points at 55-31 with 17:20 to go. Giles' fourth 3-pointer of the game opened up a 26 points lead and Mitchell's 3-pointer with 12:14 to go – Hutch's sixth of the second half – Gave the Dragons a 68-43 lead.

Mitchell struck again from 3-point range with 9:22 to go to build a 75-52 lead. The lead was still at 20 at 81-61 when the Trojans went on a 12-3 run to make the Sports Arena faithful a little nervous. But a Taylor dunk after the Dragons broke Colby's full-court press snapped the run and the Dragons closed the game on an 11-3 run.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 49-4 all-time vs. Colby, including 26-1 at the Sports Arena. … This was all-time Blue Dragon win No. 1,798. … Hutch shot 50 percent or better for the eighth time this season. … The four 3-pointers by Colby tied an opponent low this season. … Rojas returned to the line-up after missing the last five games.