Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The 2022-23 Jayhawk Conference basketball season has had its ups and downs for the Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team so far.

The obvious highs are victories over Top 10 opponents Triton and Dodge City this season. The Blue Dragons are in the midst of trying to regroup after Wednesday's disappointing 130-126 overtime loss at home to Pratt, the first loss to the Beavers at the Sports Arena since 2007.

Another one of the lows to the Blue Dragons' season was administered by Saturday's opponent, the Barton Cougars. Ranked No. 21 at the time on November 29, Barton handed the Blue Dragons its worst loss in series history in a 101-75 setback.

The rematch is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Barton's Kirkman Activities Center. The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) with Glen Grunwald (PBP) and Daren Dunn (analyst) calling the action. The game will not be streams on the Blue Dragon Sports Network. Barton Sports will have a pay-per-view stream starting at 7:15 p.m.

The Blue Dragons (14-7, 8-7) have been a resilient team all season long, but Wednesday's loss to Pratt saw Hutchinson drop into a sixth-place tie with Cloud County in the Jayhawk Conference standings. Wednesday's 68-61 road win at Cowley helped the Cougars (13-7, 8-6) move past the Blue Dragons in the standings.

Back on November 29 in the Sports Arena, the Blue Dragons led Barton 44-42 at halftime, but were stung in the second half as the Cougars won the final 20 minutes, 59-31. Hutchinson shot a season-low 37.9 percent, including 28.6 percent in the second half. Aaron Franklin had 17 points to lead the Dragons, but Joseph Locandro and Hannes Saar both posted double doubles of 30 points and 11 rebounds and 11 points and 10 boards, respectively, and third-year sophomore Cougar Downing scored 24 points in the win.

Franklin and Ra'Sean Frederick come off monster games against Pratt on Wednesday, both players with double-doubles. Franklin had a career-high 38 points and 14 rebounds, while Frederick had a career-best 33 points and 11 rebounds. The Dragons also knocked down 16 3-pointers. But the Blue Dragons allowed Pratt to shoot 69.1 percent for the game.

Barton had to grind out a seven-point win at Cowley on Wednesday. Downing had 19 points in the victory. Aime Rutayisire had 16 points as Barton shot 43.1 percent and outscored Cowley by nine (14-5) at the free-throw line.