Dragons Firepower Too Much For Saints

Unless it has been in the NJCAA National Tournament where they are 6-2 in their last eight games played in the Sports Arena, Hutchinson has been by far the toughest place for the Seward County Saints to play and Wednesday night proved no different in the Salt City as the homestanding Hutchinson Blue Dragons flexed their muscles in the two teams regular season finale, dropping Seward 88-82 in a game Hutch led by as many as 21 late in the second half. 

The Saints knew if they were to have a chance to beat the #23 ranked Dragons, it would have to be on the defensive end and Seward did not get it done there early on against Hutch as the Dragons quickly jumped out to a 19-8 lead on the Saints just 6:30 into the contest.  Hutch maintained a double digit lead to the first half media timeout, but Seward didn't let the Dragons extend their distance and by the half the Saints had battled back to make it a 41-35 game. 

Seward shot 46% in the first 20 minutes but had trouble slowing the Dragons down as Hutch hit 53% of their field goal attempts in the first half. 

Hutch regained their roll as the second half began and just five minutes into the second half the Dragons had already pushed their lead to 57-42.  Seward had no answer for the high-powered Blue Dragon attack and by the second half media timeout, Hutchinson had blew the game open to 62-43.   With just over 7:00 left in the game, it looked like Hutchinson was going to make a laugher out of it as they led the Saints 74-53.  That's when the four time defending Jayhawk West Champion Saints dug their heels in and said not so fast to their longtime rivals.  A 6-0 run got the ball rolling in the right direction for Seward and Secean Johnson and Kevin Sims led the Saints charge, picking up steals and knocking down shots to get the Saints back to within a dozen with 3:36 remaining.  The Saints didn't stop there, getting a three from Sims and then an old fashioned three point play from Johnson to cut the Blue Dragon lead to just five, 80-75 with 1:03 to go.  Seward had the ball down by four with just under a minute left when a key turnover allowed an easy Hutch bucket and that was all she wrote as the Dragons went on to win 88-82 to sweep the season series with the Saints. 

The Dragons once again shot over 50% in the second half to finish the game at 54% overall.  Seward shot 44%, but was able to keep in the game by outscoring the Dragons 27-6 at the three point line on the night.  The free throw numbers showed a decisive advantage for the Blue Dragons who finished the game with 48 attempts including 30 in the second half while Seward shot just 27 in the game.  Johnson and Sims provided nearly all the Saints offense on the night, combining for 57 as Johnson scored 31 and Sims 26 in the loss. 

The Saints finish the 14-15 regular season coincidentally 14-15  and see their Jayhawk West Conference record end at 7-9 which equals their conference loss total from the last three years combined.  Seward ties for 5^th place but wins their tiebreaker with Dodge City and the Saints will be the #5 seed from the West for the upcoming Region VI Tournament.  Hutch improves to 24-6 and finishes 3^rd in the West with an 11-5 mark. 

The Saints will look to turn their fortunes on Saturday when they go on the road to Independence for the 1^st Round of the 2015 Region VI Tournament.  The Saints and Pirates will tip off at 4:00 with a trip to Wichita and the Region VI Quarterfinals on the line. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#23 HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE