DRAGON MEN ARE AT-LARGE SELECTION FOR 2022 NJCAA TOURNAMENT
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The good news of early Sunday evening softened the blow of what was a tough 18 hours for the Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team.
Late Saturday night, the No. 21 Blue Dragons lost to No. 4 Dodge City 98-96 in overtime in the Region VI Tournament championship game. Sunday at a watch party in the Sports Arena's Club 1928 Room, the Blue Dragons found out that they were one of the eight at-large selections to make the 2022 NJCAA Men's Division I National Tournament field.
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News of the selection brought a loud roar from the players and head coach Tommy DeSalme, who is the fourth Blue Dragon head coach – Sam Butterfield, Gene Keady and Dick Gisel are the others – to take the Blue Dragons to the national tournament in his first season with the program.
DeSalme, assistant coach Eric Nitsche and players Yacquez Yow, Kobe Campbell, Josiah Harris, Tarese Morse and Cameron Robins will all be making their second-straight appearances in the NJCAA Tournament. DeSalme, Nitsche and the five players were at Cowley last season when the Tigers made their run to the 2021 national title game before coming to Hutchinson.
For Yow, he would have been part of three national tournament teams. The 2020 Cowley Tigers – Yow was a freshman on that team – were an at-large selection in 2020, but the tournament was canceled because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Blue Dragons (25-8) are the No. 12 overall seed. The Dragons will play 21st-seed Connors State (28-5) at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 14 in an opening-round match at the Sports Arena. The Hutchinson/Connors State winner will play No. 5 Chipola College in the second round at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18.
Hutchinson will be making its 23rd all-time appearance in the NJCAA Tournament. The last five tournament appearances have been as at-large selections. Hutchinson is 50-26 all-time in tournament history with national championships in 1988, 1994 and 2017.
The Blue Dragons make their second-straight appearance in the national tournament. Last season, the Blue Dragons defeated Kilgore 95-86 in the opening round before falling to tournament No. 1 overall seed Mineral Area 80-77 in the second round.
Hutchinson and Connors State will meet for the sixth time in history and the second time in the NJCAA Tournament.
The last tournament meeting was the 1994 national semifinals, an 80-79 Blue Dragon victory. That game was the last time Hutchison and Connors State have played each other. Hutchinson holds a 4-1 all-time series lead.