Coffeyville surprises Hutchinson in Region VI men’s final

Hutchinson’s men’s basketball team has two losses* and a lofty national ranking.

*Both to Coffeyville.

Hutchinson, No. 2 in the NJCAA rankings, fell on Wednesday for the second time to Coffeyville, which slogged through the second half of the season but saved its best for its most difficult opponent.

Coffeyville won the Region VI championship with a 91-88 overtime win at Hartman Arena, earning a spot in the NJCAA national tournament. The Red Ravens trailed by four with under a minute to go but scored the final seven points in 47 seconds.

Malik Keith gave Coffeyville an 89-88 lead with a three-pointer from the corner, and teammate Tedrick Wolfe scored 24 of his 28 points after halftime.

“When we play each other in recent times, they had the better of us,” Coffeyville coach Jay Herkelman said. “Years ago, we had the better of them. Fortunately this year, we were the ones that came out on top twice. I don’t know how to explain it, the guys have big hearts.”

Hutchinson coach Steve Eck couldn’t explain the anomaly of Coffeyville (22-12) and didn’t seem too impressed, either by a team that was 8-9 in January and February.

“At least we didn’t lose 12 games,” Eck said.

The teams likely will end their seasons in the same spot – Hutchinson (31-2) is likely to earn an NJCAA at-large bid. Coffeyville secured the automatic berth with two players who seemed to will the team to a second victory against Hutchinson.

Wolfe made nine baskets and all six of his free throws in the final 25 minutes, helping Coffeyville erase a six-point halftime deficit to set up a back-and-forth final 20 minutes.

Keith made some of the biggest shots down the stretch, first with a three-pointer that gave Coffeyville a 64-63 lead with 4:33 to go. In overtime, his three-pointer tied it 80-80 with 3:08 to play, and he made what proved to be the game winner with 12 seconds on the clock.

“We wanted it really bad,” Keith said. “Me and (Tedford), before the game, we told each other to give it our all, if not we’re going to go home. Ted’s my guy – he brought it all tonight.”

Coffeyville couldn’t put Hutchinson away in the final seconds of regulation, twice taking a three-point lead before Hutchinson followed with two-point baskets. With seven seconds to go, Greg Poleon missed the second of two free throws, holding the lead at 73-71.

Wichita State signee Samajae Haynes-Jones drove the length of the floor to score with under a second to go, tying the game 73-73.

J.J. Rhymes was Hutchinson’s answer to Keith and Wolfe in overtime. He scored nine points and had Hutchinson in position to win as the Blue Dragons twice built four point leads.

It wasn’t enough, though, to erase the fine print.

“They’ve got good players, I don’t know how they lost 12 games,” Eck said.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Coffeyville surprises Hutchinson in Region VI men’s final."