Blue Dragons move up in rank to No. 17

By Bailey Terry

The Blue Dragon basketball team played at home against the Garden City Broncbusters and won 80-68. The Dragons record is now 20-4 overall and 7-3 in the Jayhawk West Conference.

Bashier Ahmed, Bronx, N.Y., was the leading scorer with 21 points. Ahmed hit 14 of 15 free throws.

DeShawn Freeman, Rocky Mount, N.C., ended the game with 19 points, eight rebounds, and made 11-14 free throws.

Keanu Pinder, Perth, Australia, made 90% of the free throws he shot, he ended the game with 14 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and had two blocked shots.

Akbar Hoffman, Newark, N.J., had 12 points, while Che Bob, Charlotte, N.C., had 11 points.

The Dragons only lead during the opening half was at the very beginning when the score was 4-3.

The Dragons scored just 11 points in the first 11 minutes of the game. They were behind 22-11 with just nine minutes to play, but Hutch pulled within two points to end the half, 28-30.

The Dragons stayed up with the Broncbusters the second half, even coming ahead and winning by 20 points.

The Dragons traveled to Dodge City on Jan. 31, winning their fifth consecutive game, 79-63.

Hoffman scored 17 points, 15 of them came during the second half, aided the Dragons to finish with a win. Hoffman also had five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Ahmed scored 17 points as well, scoring nine in the second half. Ahmed also had nine rebounds and three steals.

Austin Budke, Beloit, had 14 points, 13 of the coming from the second half. Budke also had five rebounds.

Freeman scored 14 points, had eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Moataz Aly, Alexandria, Egypt, added six points and a career high of seven blocks of the bench.

Hutch shot 52%, hit 4 of 14 three-pointers and went 17-23 from the foul line. Hutch out-rebounded their opponents 40-37.

The Dragons missed their first seven shots. Their first field goal of the game came from Aly at the 16-minute mark.

The Conquistadors were in the lead from the start; with five minutes to play in the first half the score was 28-19. As the Dragons were able to diminish the gap, they made a 12-4 run. Hutch was only behind one point at halftime, 32-31.

As the second half opened, the Dragons went on a 10-4 run, as they clinched the lead for the first time with 17 minutes to play. The score was 41-36. The Dragons’ lead grew to eight points, 48-40; they scored eight more points and led 56-40 with 10 minutes remaining.

A Budke dunk caused the Dragons to lead by 20 points, 71-51 with just over five minutes remaining. The Conquistadors closed the gap, 79-63 to end the game.

The Dragons travel to face their rivals, Butler, on Feb. 7. The tipoff will be at 7:30 p.m.

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