Late spurt pushes Blue Dragons past T-Birds, 86-81

An spurt late in the game provided the ninth-ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons the separation they needed to fend off the upset bid by the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds.
Cloud County trailed Hutchinson just 70-69 when Jalen Smith made one of two free throws with 4:45 remaining in the game.
The Blue Dragons then outscored the T-Birds 11-3 over the next 2:28 to go up 81-72.
Cloud County would make a late push but came up short, 86-81, in a Jayhawk Conference matchup Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
“With a young team we have our peaks and our valleys. Right now our valleys are really low and our peaks really high. Within the game we have those peaks and valleys,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said. “I felt like in the game there were two stretches, the last 2:30 of the first half and from five minutes to go in the game to two minutes to go in the game, where we had a valley and that is where Hutch won the game.”  
Cloud County falls to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Hutchinson improved to 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
Leading much of the first half, the T-Birds were outscored 14-5 in the final 2:20, and trailed 42-39 at halftime.
A basket by Malang Athian early in the second half pulled Cloud County within one point, 42-41.
Hutchinson then scored the next seven points to go up 49-41.
Cloud County chipped away at the deficit, and got within a point, 62-61, when Athian scored with 8:13 to play in the game.
Athian, who was six of nine from the field and four of eight from the free throw line, finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The two teams traded baskets over the next three-plus minutes, and it was a 70-69 game when Smith made the free throw with 4:45 left.
Jacquez Yow scored five points in 33 seconds and the Blue Dragons led 75-69.
Yow finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Smith scored for Cloud County, but Yow answered.
After Athian went one of two from the free throw line, Hutchinson got baskets by Josiah Harris and Angelo Stuart to take its largest lead to that point, 81-72.
Nate Duckworth, who scored 12 points, made a layup to get the T-Birds within seven points, 81-74.
A bucket by Kaimen Lennox again gave Hutchinson a nine point cushion with just 58 seconds on the clock.
The T-Birds tossed in seven points in the final 47 seconds but could get no closer than five points.
“I told them after the game that when we are locked in and playing hard I think we can beat anybody, and I meant anybody in the country. And I said it from the bottom of my heart. I really believe that. However, when we are not locked in we can’t beat anyone,” Kastrup said.
Corey Sawyer Jr. led four Cloud County players in double figures with 19 points. He was 5 of 11 from the floor and 9 of 10 from the free throw line.
Justin Graham added 10 points.
The T-Birds shot 47 percent (27 of 57) from the field and made 25 of 36 free throws, but were out-rebounded 50-36 and gave up 24 offensive rebounds.
“We had a better field goal percentage, the turnover battle was pretty even, we made more free throws than they attempted. Those are all positives, but we got our tails handed to us on the glass,” Kastrup said.
Stuart paced Hutchinson with 23 points.
Lennox scored 15 points for the Blue Dragons and Kobe Campbell added 10.
Trailing 11-6 early in the game, the T-Birds used a 14-4 run to go up 20-15.
Cloud County led by as many as six points and was up 34-28 when the Blue Dragons made the push late in the first half to reclaim the lead.
The T-Birds will host Independence Community College on Tuesday night.
The Pirates have lost three straight games and are 5-3 overall and 0-2 in Jayhawk Conference play.
“Independence is very fast, very skilled. They shoot the ball well and have some strong guard play so we have got to come back with not a lot of time to rest,” Kastrup said.