DODGE CITY, Kan. - The Dodge City Community College men's basketball team would take a 22-21 midway through the first half before the No. 2-nationally ranked Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team would find their stride and hold the Conquistadors in check by handing the
Conqs a 92-66 home loss at the Student Activities Center in Dodge City on Friday, January 13th. 

DC3 is now 12-5 on the year and saw a five-game Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference win streak snapped, falling to 9-4 in the conference. The Blue Dragons stayed perfect, moving to 17-0 on the year and take a commanding four-game lead in the KJCCC heading into the second half of conference play. 

It would appear as though the game would live up to the hype early on, as Dodge City would shake off a game-opening 9-1 run and cut the Hutchinson lead to 13-11 with 14:10 left in the first half. The Blue Dragons would make another 8-0 over the next 1:10 to open back up a double-digit lead before an 11-0 run by the Conquistadors would give them their only lead of the game with 10:38 left in the half.  DC3 would stay within striking distance and trail by six at 38-32 with 4:56 left until halftime, when Hutchinson would close the half on a 12-4 run to go up by a score of 50-36. 

Nothing would go the Conquistadors way to start the second half as Hutchinson would keep on the gas pedal and not hold back, opening up a 75-52 lead at the final media timeout of the game with 9:55 left in the game. Starting out five of 14 from the field in the second half would not get any better for DC3 as Dodge City would finish just nine of 26 (34.6%) from the field in the second half. 

Hutchinson would do most of their damage off turnovers, holding a 36-9 advantage over Dodge City. A 56-30 advantage in points in the paint for the Blue Dragons would also play a key role in a game that saw the Conquistadors out-rebound the Blue Dragons 39-38. 

"Live ball-turnovers and bad shots led to big plays for Hutchinson tonight" said head coach Kyle Campbell in a post-game interview with Damon Post. "Good teams take advantage of bad play which is exactly what Hutchinson did and you have to give them credit for that." "Tonight was definitely a bit of a reality-check for our guys."

Sophomores Josh Boutte and Harris Brown would lead the Conquistadors with 14 points apiece while pulling in six and five rebounds, respectively. Dreon Lewis would be the only other Conq in double-figures with 13 points and six rebounds. Mike Jones would lead all players with six assists. Hutchinson would have four players in double-figures with Samajae Haynes-Jones scoring a game-high 23 points. 

A key KJCCC matchup awaits Dodge City as the Conquistadors will travel to Concordia, Kansas to take on Cloud County Community College at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18th. The Thunderbirds took an 81-75 road victory over DC3 in the conference opener for both teams back in November, as the Conqs currently hold a one-half game lead for third in the KJCCC over CCCC. Cloud County will play at Independence Community College at 4 p.m on Monday after the game was postponed from Saturday due to impending weather.