Hutchinson reaches NJCAA title game (+video)

Hutchinson advanced to the NJCAA basketball championship game, beating Ranger (Texas) 84-81 in overtime Friday night at the Sports Arena.

Hutchinson sophomore Akbar Hoffman stepped to the free-throw line with 12 seconds to go in regulation, trailing the Rangers 78-76. Hoffman made the first, then after a Ranger timeout, made the second one as well.

“Akbar is good,” Hutchinson coach Steve Eck said. “When Akbar hit those free throws, those were huge, I’ve been in situations when we didn’t hit those and we had to foul, if we don’t hit those free throws, there’s no overtime.”

Hoffman finished with a team-high 21 points.

The Blue Dragons controlled the overtime period, not allowing Ranger to score in the final 3:43 of the game.

Hutchinson received a huge second half from sophomore Keanu Pinder. Pinder had eight points at the half, and finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. Many of the rebounds and blocked shots turned into Blue Dragon points on the other end.

“I just knew I had to step it up, you know,” Pinder said. “I had to focus and put everything I had into it.”

The Blue Dragons trailed at the half 42-40. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the second half.

“If you told me we shot 51 percent, I would say no way,” Eck said. “They just guarded us like crazy. That was just one heck of a defensive team, give my guys credit, they didn’t quit, I had confidence in them.”

In a game which featured 17 ties and 16 lead changes, there were many close calls down the stretch. Ranger a shot with 12 seconds to go in regulation, but a fade-away shot from Jordan Geist off the rim gave the Blue Dragons fans and players a huge sigh of relief.

“When (Geist) took that shot, I was just praying to God that he missed,” Hutchinson’s Bashir Ahmed said. Ahmed finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Dragons.

Hutchinson went up 19-9, but Ranger countered with an 11-0 run.

“They started to guard us better,” Eck said. “We started to take shots early on in the shot clock and that turned into baskets for them.”

Hutchinson will face Salt Lake (30-8) in the championship game at p.m. Saturday

“They’re a very good team,” Eck said. “There’s not any one hotter than them in this tournament, we can scout all we want, but they have too many offensive sets. It’s going to be a tough one for us.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 11:59 PM with the headline "Hutchinson reaches NJCAA title game (+video)."