Haynes-Jones, Hutchinson roll into NJCAA semifinals
Hutchinson Community College freshman Semajae Haynes-Jones grew up watching the NJCAA tournament, 35 miles from his home in Wichita. Haynes-Jones dreamed of playing on the national stage and in front of a large crowd.
He accomplished both in Thursday’s 116-90 quarterfinal win over Northwest Florida State (27-6), scoring 33 points to lead the Blue Dragons to Friday’s semifinals.
“It’s a blessing,” Haynes-Jones said. “I get the opportunity to play under Coach Steve Eck and Hutchinson Community College, I’m just going to continue to give all that I got and try to make it to the next level.”
Hutchinson’s offense was firing on all cylinders, shooting 58 percent. Haynes-Jones had five rebounds and six assists, and Bashir Ahmed also scored 21 points with 10 rebounds. Hutchinson (31-4) had five players score in double-figures.
“Our guys were focused, guys like Bashir and Akbar (Hoffman) were here last year along with Keanu (Pinder),” Eck said. “We lost in the Elite Eight last year and they made a pledge last year already that we were going to get past that Elite Eight. I hope they made a pledge to get past the final four.”
Hutch went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half, sparked by Ahmed’s six points in that stretch. The Blue Dragons made 60 percent of their shots in the first half to take a 55-28 commanding lead at halftime.
“I thought we played pretty hard,” Eck said. “Give the guys credit, they broke the press… it was nice to get everyone in the ballgame.”
Northwest Florida’s defense continued to struggle in the second half. When the Raiders pulled within 25 midway through the second half, Hutchinson reeled off 12 straight, firing up the crowd of about 4,000.
“I told the guys before the game, they’re not going to yell for you if you don’t do anything,” Eck said. “So you got to do something or they won’t have anything to yell for. I don’t think we could have played any better than we did in the first half, and if we can, I want to do it again.”
HUTCHINSON: Juiston 19, Conley 3, Hoffman 17, Ahmed 21, Haynes-Jones 33, Dennis 2, Emery 3, Douvier 1, Webster 2, Pinder 13, Murdock 2.
NW FLORIDA ST.: Diagne 12, Millinghaus 10, Wilson-Frame 10, Sterling 9, Pinckney 4, Rodriguez 10, Edwards 15, Petteway 2, Bogan 9, Mayimba 9.
Halftime – Hutchinson 55, NW Florida State 28. Three-pointers – Hutchinson 7-14 (Hoffman 3-5, Ahmed 2-3, Haynes-Jones 1-2, Conley 1-1, Pinder 0-1, Clark 0-1, Murdock 0-1), NW Florida State 10-33 (Sterling 3-9, Bogan 2-3, Mayimba 2-3, Wilson-Frame 2-8, Edwards 1-6, Pinckney 0-1, Millinghaus 0-3). Rebounds – Hutchinson 49 (Pinder 11), NW Florida State 33 (Wilson-Frame 6). Assists – Hutchinson 24 (Ahmed 7), NW Florida State 21 (Edwards 4). Fouls – Hutchinson 20, NW Florida State 25.
This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Haynes-Jones, Hutchinson roll into NJCAA semifinals."