BLUE DRAGONS FALL LATE AT GARDEN CITY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

GARDEN CITY – The Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team couldn't overcome 13 Garden City 3-point field goals on Wednesday in a back-and-forth battle with the Broncbusters. 

The Blue Dragons fell to the Broncbusters 97-93 at Conestoga Arena in a game that had 19 lead changes and eight ties.

The Blue Dragons dropped their third-straight game and slipped to 10-9 overall (5-8 KJCCC). Weather permitting on Saturday, the Blue Dragons will take on No. 25 Butler at 4 p.m. with the Quarterback Club Hall of Fame Class of 2026 being inducted at halftime. Garden City is now 12-7 overall (7-6 KJCCC).

The final statistics didn't tell the entire story in Wednesday's battle.

The Blue Dragons shot 53.5 percent to Garden City's 47.9 percent. The Dragons out-rebounded the Broncbusters 44-30 and each team at 23 assists. The two stats that figured in negatively for the Blue Dragons were 13 Garden City turnovers to Hutchinson's six and 18 turnovers to the Busters' 12. Garden City outscored the Dragons 21-14 in points off turnovers.

Sophomore Kyrell Shaw posted his fifth 30-point game of the season, including 4 of the last 5 games, with a game-high 35 points to lead the Blue Dragons. Shaw was 13 of 18 shooting, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 from the foul line.

Three other Blue Dragons scored in double figures. Sophomore Bobby Cannon had 12 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Daleron Thomas had 11 points.

Freshman Chudier Dorar posted his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

The Blue Dragon were 36 of 66 shooting overall, going 6 of 17 from 3-point range and 15 of 24 from the free-thrown line.

Garden City's Zaire Lott did the damage from distance against Hutchinson knocking down 7 of 8 3-pointers and finishing with a team-high 23 points. Six Garden City players scored in double figures. Desean Lewis had 14 points, while Lucas Kalimba, Jamir Westry and Xavier Johnson had 13 points each.

The Busters were 34 of 71 shooting overall, hitting 13 of 30 3-pointers and 16 of 22 from the free-throw line.

Thirteen of those lead changes happened in the first half with Hutchinson building a lead as large as five points and Garden City had a four-point lead. The Blue Dragons trailed 18-14 with 12:46 remaining in the first half. An Asher Boney 3-pointer trimmed the lead back to one with 12:11 remaining. Hutchinson trailed 28-24 with 8:58 to play. A Shaw 3-pointer cut the deficit to one and the Dragons took a 31-30 lead on a Dorar layup with 5:50 remaining. 

Trailing 32-31, the Dragons scored six unanswered by Shaw, Dorar and Thomas to take a 37-32 lead with 3:37 to go. The Busters closed the half on an 11-2 run and led 43-40 at halftime.

Kordell Williams scored with 14:12 remaining to give Hutchinson a 62-56 lead. An Anthony Alston field goal with 12:17 remaining gave the Dragons a 70-63 lead. Garden City countered with an 8-1 run to knot the score at 71-all with 9:52 to go.

With 4:45 remaining, Alston scored to give Hutchinson an 84-83 lead. Then came the decisive run for Garden City, going on an 8-0 run to take command. Kalimba scored with 2:29 left to build a 91-84 lead for Garden City.

Williams dropped a corner 3-pointer with 49 seconds left to cut the deficit to 95-93, but that was a close as the Dragons got in the final minute.

GAME NOTES – This was head coach Kyle Fisher's 50th game coached at Hutchinson. … The last time the Dragons lost three games in a row was the 2022-23 season. … The Dragons have lost three-straight games to Garden City and are now 145-54 in the all-time series with the Busters. … Zaire Lott's seven 3-pointers are a season opponent high. … Garden's 13 3-pointers tied an opponent team high against the Dragons this season. … Bobby Cannon had his 30th career game scoring in double figures. … Kordell Williams pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds.