Blue Dragons beat Beavers

By Bailey Terry

The Blue Dragon basketball team traveled to Colby on Feb. 15 and won 74-70.

The Dragons record is now 21-6 overall and 8-5 in the Jayhawk West.

Over the past two weeks, the Dragons have played Butler, Barton, Colby, and Pratt.

The Dragons have dropped in ranking, from No. 17 to No. 21, due to losing two more games.

The Dragons lost to rivals Butler in overtime, barely pulled out a win against Barton, beat Colby, and beat Pratt over the past two weeks.

Bashier Ahmed, Bronx, N.Y., was the leading scorer for Hutch with 19 points. Ahmed also had six rebounds and four assists.

Akbar Hoffman, Newark, N.J., and Austin Budke, Beloit, scored nearly all of their points in the second half.

Hoffman scored 14 points total and 11 points in the second half, while Budke score 12 points in the second half and 18 in total.

The Dragons went 5 for 17 from 3-point range and went 21 for 31 from the free throw line.

Hutch out-rebounded their opponents 41-34.

As the game started Hutch led 10-8 to start off with, until Colby went on a 14-1 run, making the score 20-11 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

As the Dragons fought back with a 7-0 run coming within just two points, 20-18.

Colby continued to hold the lead throughout the first half. At halftime the score was 36-32.

As the second half started, the Dragons tied the game, 40-40 with just less than 17 minutes remaining in the game.

As the game went on Colby was able to retake the lead 51-46. The Dragons were able to pull within one point within nine minutes to go.

The Dragons took the lead at the seven-minute mark and continued to keep the lead, 69-65.

With just over a minute to play, the Dragons were down one point, 70-69, until Budke was passed the ball, made the shot and got fouled, as they counted the bucket.

Budke was able to make a 3-point play to pull the Dragons ahead.

Then as a Trojan player drove through the lane to take a lay-up, Budke once again made a huge play for the Dragons by taking a charge and taking away the made lay-up from the scoreboard.

The Dragons ended the game with two made Hoffman free throws, 74-70.

The Blue Dragons faced the Pratt Beavers on Feb. 18 at the Sports Arena and won 75-71.

Their record now is 22-6 overall and 9-5 in the Jayhawk West.

The top three scorers for the Blue Dragons were Ahmed, Budke, and DeShawn Freeman, Rocky Mount, N.C., Ahmed with 23 points, Budke with 22, and Freeman with 21.

The Dragons never allowed the Beavers to be ahead, but the Beavers were able to tie the game on four occasions.

Ahmed was the player to break the tie on three of four occasions.

The Blue Dragons were ahead by just three points in the final 30 seconds.

Pratt hoping to tie the game and send it into over-time but were unable to do it.

The Beavers fouled Freeman and he went to the line. Freeman hit one of the two free throws helping the Dragons turn it into a two-possession game.

The Dragons won the game 75-71.

The Dragons are scheduled to play in Concordia against Cloud County on Feb. 21 at 8:00 p.m.

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