Blue Dragon men’s basketball win thriller with Colby

By Colton Fast
Staff writer

The Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team ended its three-game losing skid whilst shorthanded with an overtime thriller against Colby on Saturday at the Sports Arena.

It was a nailbiter throughout the game, as it finished with 15 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Blue Dragons pulled out a 104-99 win.

With the absence of leading scorer Angelo Stuart, somebody would have to come and step in to fill that void. Kobe Campbell did exactly that. Scoring a career high 25 points on an efficient 10 of 18 from the field, 4 of 7 from 3-point range, while also tagging a healthy five assists and five rebounds in his 38 minutes, including a commanding stretch to help lead a small comeback midway through the second half.

Those 38 minutes was another career high mark for Campbell, but fatigue didn’t seem to be a problem.

“When coach (Tommy DeSalme) switched us to that full court 1-2-2, it put me at a defensive ease, so it didn’t really take any stamina off of me, offensively or defensively, so I could work out for the rest of the game.”

 Forward Jaquez Yow also contributed with a monstrous 23 points 12 rebounds and a career high five steals.

Yow was everywhere, whether it was loose balls or finding a way to stop the ball. When asked how he does it, he put it very simply.

“It was just my determination and my will to win … We took some real tough (losses), a lot of them at home, so we really just had to find a way,” Yow said. 

Although any losing streak is going to be a negative, the Blue Dragons’ three-game losing streak is not as bad as you might think. With all three coming against above .500 opponents, including against defending NJCAA champions in Coffeyville and against Jayhawk Conference-leading Dodge City. 

DeSalme puts the credit to his guys executing.

“We made big plays, we made winning plays when they mattered and that’s what we haven’t been doing, as we’ve just been in close games and not making those plays toward the end,” DeSalme said. “I thought Jaquez and Kobe especially weren’t gonna let us down” 

Although with a crazy ending to regulation with a game tying 3-pointer from J.J. White sent it to overtime, the ending to overtime was not quite as exciting as HutchCC was able to seal the win late with some defense and free throws.

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