Saints Fall Hard to the Blue Dragons on Hall of Fame Night

Liberal, Kansas – After taking down their longtime rival in Dodge City this past Wednesday, the Seward County Saints men's basketball team returned to action on their home floor in the Green House against the #15 Hutchinson Blue Dragons where SCCC was unable to pull off another upset with Hutch taking down the Saints 74-59.

It was a back and forth contest to begin the game after a technical issue with the scoreboard for Seward County resulted in a free throw for the Blue Dragons to start the game with a 1-0 lead but an easy drive down the lane from Dave Olaniyi put the Saints ahead before he later found Jaden Martin in motion for a big time alley-oop slam to put Seward County ahead 10-5 in the first four minutes. Hutchinson responded quickly with a 10-0 run of their own to push back in front but six straight points by Lovasoa Andriatsarafara off some strong post scores cut it back to a one-point game. Olaniyi used his lightning quick speed to his advantage as he snatched the rock away from the Blue Dragons and found a trailing Martin once again for a rim rattling dunk to keep the Saints in reach and a contested triple from Amir Whitlock put the score within eight 36-28 Hutchinson entering the halftime break.

Three straight triples by the Blue Dragons to open up the second half pushed their lead far ahead before Mathias M'Madi pulled up and knocked down a three of his own to try and close the gap. Back-to-back long-range bombs from Xavier Alexander off the bench cut the score difference back to ten while some strong work in the paint by Big Lova kept the Saints alive against their top fifteen opponent. Olaniyi kept making his way to the rim for some high rising layups to keep the offensive firepower continue for SCCC while Martin even pulled up from long range and knocked in a three of his own, but it was not enough as Hutchinson grabbed a 74-59 win in the Green House over the hosting Saints.

Olaniyi and Martin combined for 30 points with 15 each while Big Lova added on 11 points and 8 rebounds of his own for the green and white.

Seward County now falls to 7-20 with the 2023-24 season wrapping up over the next few weeks and a 5-16 record in Jayhawk conference action. They will now hit the road on Wednesday to take on the Colby Trojans in an attempt to sweep their KJCCC foe in the season series.