Hutchinson men advance to NJCAA quarterfinals with strong second half
The Hutchinson men’s basketball team survived an upset bid from St. Petersburg (Fla.), overcoming a halftime deficit and winning 95-78 on Wednesday afternoon in the second round of the NJCAA National Tournament at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons went into the locker room trailing 43-40, but used a strong surge in the second half to pull away from the Titans and advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals, where they will face Odessa (Texas) at 6 p.m. Odessa beat Gillette (Wyo.) 83-76 on Wednesday afternoon.
Hutchinson’s win on Wednesday came down to defense, coach Steve Eck said.
“I told the guys at halftime that they were shooting 48 percent and their bigs were making shots they weren’t the first game,” Eck said. “I told the guys body up, keep on playing, guard them, we’ve got to play defense and the second half we held them to 36 percent shooting. That was the difference in the ballgame.”
The Titans held Hutchinson scoreless from the field for just more than seven minutes late in the half. Hutch’s Shakur Juiston connected on a three-point play to pull the Blue Dragons within 43-40. Juiston finished with a game-high 29 points and added 12 rebounds and four assists.
Wichita State signee Samajae Haynes-Jones sparked the second half turnaround for Hutch. Haynes-Jones connected on a three-pointer 47 seconds into the half to tie the score Hutch wouldn’t look back. Haynes-Jones, a Wichita East graduate, finished with 26 points and made all four three-pointers that the Blue Dragons made.
“They were making shots and we didn’t put our head down,” Haynes-Jones said. “We just tried to stay focus and play our game.”
St. Petersburg lived by the three-point shot, making 11 in the game. Every time that Hutch tried to pull away, the Titans had an answer until midway through the second half. Hutch got big shots from Haynes-Jones and Juiston down the stretch, and were also helped by J.J. Rhymes’ presence from the free-throw line. Rhymes made 9 of 11 attempts and finished with 17 points.
“I know the first half we had some jitters, some of our freshman had some jitters,” Eck said. “We shook them off second half and basically started guarding, so give the guys all the credit.”
The length of the Titans caused problems in the first half for Hutchinson. The Titans blocked eight shots in the first half and finished with 11 in the game.
“It took us awhile to adjust and we wanted to attack the basket and we did,” Eck said. “They were long and we hadn’t seen a team like that all year. I thought we wore them down in the second half.”
ST. PETERSBURG: Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Owens 5-12 0-0 13, Poitier 1-2 0-0 3, Clark 6-21 1-2 15, Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Burnell 11-16 2-2 26, Morgan 0-1 0-0 0, Acevedo 0-0 0-0 0, Carson 4-11 0-0 11, Ngom 1-2 0-0 2, Patterson 2-6 2-4 6, Munroe 1-2 0-0 0. Totals 31-74 11-27 78.
HUTCHINSON: Juiston 11-15 7-9 29, Conley 1-4 0-0 2, Bandoo 2-9 2-2 6, Haynes-Jones 10-16 2-2 26, Rhymes 4-10 9-11 17, Nuhu 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-3 3-6 3, Scekic 6-7 0-0. Totals 34-65 4-14 95.
Halftime — St. Petersburg 43-40. Three-point shooting — St. Petersburg 11-27 (Owens 3-4, Carson 3-8, Burnell 2-4, Clark 2-9, Poitier 1-1, Ngom 0-1), Hutchinson 4-14 (Haynes-Jones 4-7, Bandoo 0-3, Rhymes 0-2, Conley 0-1, Scekic 0-1). Rebounds — St. Petersburg 30 (Patterson 5), Hutchinson 45 (Juiston 12). Steals — St. Petersburg 8 (Clark 4), Hutchinson 6 (Juiston 4). Assists — St. Petersburg 16 (Owens 5), Hutchinson 22 (Bandoo, Rhymes 5).
Hutch women ousted – Jones County (Miss.) beat Hutchinson 91-82 in the second round of the NJCAA women’s tournament in Lubbock, Texas. Taylor Stahly hit eight three-pointers and scored 26 for Hutchinson (33-2).
This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Hutchinson men advance to NJCAA quarterfinals with strong second half."