DESALME, NITSCHE, 5 BLUE DRAGONS RETURN TO ARK CITY TO FACE COWLEY
| BLUE DRAGON MEN'S BASKETBALL |
No. 10 Hutchinson (18-3, 12-3) at Cowley (11-10, 7-8) |
| When: Saturday, January 29, 2022 Where: Scott Auditorium, Arkansas City, KS Time: 7:30 p.m. Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9); KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5), 7:15 p.m. - Glen Grunwald (PBP); Daren Dunn (Analyst) Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 7:15 p.m. Twitter: @bluedragonsport CLICK FOR BLUE DRAGON GAME NOTES (PDF Format) |
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Saturday's road trip to Arkansas City is sure to be a trip down memory lane for Hutchinson Community College men's basketball coach Tommy DeSalme and five Blue Dragon players.
Last season, DeSalme was the Cowley Tigers' head coach and Nitsche was his assistant. They coached five players on that Cowley roster - Jacquez Yow, Josiah Harris and Tarese Morse; and guards Kobe Campbell and Cameron Robins. All that team did was win the Jayhawk East and Region VI titles and finish as national runner-up in the 2021 NJCAA Tournament.
Now DeSalme and those five players are Blue Dragons, who play at Cowley on Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff from Scott Auditorium in Arkansas City.
The Blue Dragons (18-3) find themselves in a first-place tie with Dodge City in the Jayhawk Conference as play begins on Saturday. Hutchinson rallied from 11 points down on Wednesday to defeat Barton 95-89, while Dodge City dropped a road game on Wednesday at Seward County.
Angelo Stuart reached the 20-point mark for the 16th time this season to lead the Blue Dragons with 20 points. Hutchinson received a huge lift from Campbell, who had missed the last two games with an injury. Campbell scored 15 points. Yow had 19 points and seven rebounds.
The Blue Dragons are now 4-2 in games when trailing at halftime. The Dragons trailed Barton 47-43 at halftime and were down by as many as 11 points with 13:59 to go in the second half.
The last time the Blue Dragons and Tigers met, Cowley held the high-scoring Blue Dragons to a season-low offensive output in a 76-75 Hutchinson win on December 1 at the Sports Arena. Stuart had 21 points, Kaimen Lennox had 12 points and Campbell finished with 10 to place the Blue Dragons in that defensive struggle. Xavier Valley had four 3-pointers and finished with 22 points to lead the Tigers.
Cowley enters Saturday's game fresh off a 78-52 road victory over Northwest Tech on Wednesday in Goodland. Valley had a game-high 23 points to pace Cowley, which shot 56 percent from the floor with 10 3-point goals.
Saturday's matchup will be the 133rd time in the Blue Dragons and Tigers have meet in a series that dates back to 1929. The Dragons lead the series 87-45.