Hutchinson CC Sports Information

SALINA – The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team added to its historical legacy Friday night when the Blue Dragons advanced to their 30th Region VI Tournament championship game.

The Blue Dragons got a combined 43 points from guards Angelo Stuart and Kaimen Lennox and a career night from forward Josiah Harris as the Blue Dragons defeated archrival Butler 92-85 in the Region VI semifinals at the Tony's Pizza Event Center.

The second-seeded Blue Dragons (25-7) will meet top-seed and No. r-ranked Dodge City at 8 p.m. on Saturday in the Region VI Championship game.

The Blue Dragons led wire-to-wire in defeating Butler for the third time this season.

Hutchinson scored 19 of the game's first 26 points and led 19-7 after a Cecil Lee 3-pointer with 13:17 to play in the first half. A Jayden Garrison 3-pointer upped the Dragon lead to 18 at 35-17 with 8:55 left in the half. Hutchinson led 45-36 at halftime.

The Grizzlies opened the second half on a 10-5 run and pulled within 50-46 after an Isaiah Williams' three-point play with 17:07 left. Nate Goodlow scored with 11:50 remaining to give the Dragons a 67-56 lead. Two Marque English free throws brought Butler to within 70-68 with 7:22 left. The Dragons had just one field goal in the final 5 minutes, but hit 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Stewart, the Jayhawk Conference's leading scorer finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the Blue Dragons. This was Stuart's 21st 20-point game this season. Stuart had only one 3-point goal, but was 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Lennox finished with 19 points on 6 of 12 shooting and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line.

Harris poured in a career-high 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting. He added nine rebounds and three assists. Harris added three blocked shots and two steals.

The Blue Dragons shot 43.8 percent for the game (28 of 64), hitting 6 of 21 from 3-point range and 30 of 42 from the free-throw line. The Dragons were out-rebounded 44 38, but had a season-low eight turnovers.

Jaden Okon and Isaac Ondekane led the Grizzlies with 16 points each. Williams and Keyon Thomas scored 15 points each. Treylon Price and Eden Holt had nine points each.

The Grizzlies shot 40.7 percent (24 of 59), including 5-15 from 3-point range and 32 of 41 from the free-throw line. Butler had 14 turnovers.

GAME NOTES – Hutchinson is now 13-4 all-time against Butler in the Region VI Tournament. … The Dragons are now 142-50 all-time in the Region VI Tournament, including 30-15 in the tournament semifinals. … Blue Dragon head coach Tommy DeSalme and assistant coach Eric Nitchse will coach in their second-straight Region VI title game. Both were at Cowley last season, which was the Region VI champion in 2021.