Seward drops regular-season finale at Hutchinson

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Seward County Community College men's basketball team fell to Hutchinson Community College, 67-47, on Saturday to end its regular season. The Saints dropped to 17-13 overall and finished fifth in the Jayhawk West at 10-11.

Seward will travel to play Independence Community College on Wednesday for a first-round Region VI playoff game.

The Saints and Blue Dragons battled back and forth with the teams trading leads through the first half. Seward went on an 11-2 run, capped by Roy Clarke's three-pointer, to take a 21-13 lead with 5:41 left in the half.

Hutchinson answered back with three straight three-pointers, two by Josh Baker and one by Clarence King, to grab a one-point margin, 22-21, at the 3:44 mark. Branton McCrary followed by knocking down a jumper to help Seward regain the lead at 23-22 with 3:18 remaining and that would be the score heading into halftime.

Seward started the second half with an Ahmed Ibrahim layup and led 25-22. It was all downhill for the Saints from there. Hutchinson went on an 11-0 run and turned the three-point deficit into a 33-25 lead with 16:46 remaining.

The Saints could not regain the advantage, but did whittle it down to three at 40-37 on a three-pointer by Kyle Cardaci and a pair of free throws by Surakata Jawara with 11:37 left. The Blue Dragons roared back with a 15-2 barrage and went on to ice the game for the win.

McCrary had nine points and Stephen Takyi and Ibrahim each had eight points to lead Seward, which shot 31 percent from the field (20-of-64). The Saints were outrebounded, 45-33.

D.J Mitchell had 16 points and Josh Baker chipped with 13 points, including a trio of three pointers, to lead Hutchinson, which improved to 22-8 overall and finished at 13-8 in the Jayhawk West, tied for third with Pratt.

Seward lost a wild one to Independence, 95-89, in double overtime on January 8 at the Greenhouse.