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Connors State College

Cowboys Defeat Hutchinson CC to Advance to First Final Four Since 2009

Cinderella is having too much fun to leave the ball now. The Connors State Cowboys, who got no respect on a national level despite a sterling season, won their third straight game at the National Junior College Athletic Association championships Wednesday night, blowing out the host Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons 91-69.

Cowboys Defeat Hutchinson CC to Advance to First Final Four Since 2009
Box Score
March 27, 2024

Hutchinson, Kansas- Cinderella is having too much fun to leave the ball now.

The Connors State Cowboys, who got no respect on a national level despite a sterling season, won their third straight game at the National Junior College Athletic Association championships Wednesday night, blowing out the host Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons 91-69.

That goes along with Monday's win over Moberly Area Community College and Tuesday's major upset of third-ranked Salt Lake Community College. Connors started the tournament as the 19th seed and never cracked the top 25 rankings during the season but has been the darling of the tournament thus far as they improved their record to 34-2.

It was all about defense, a key component of any Bill Muse-coached team, and the ability to hammer the ball inside that propelled the Cowboys to the win. On Tuesday the Blue Dragons hit 16 treys in their win over Chipola but the Cowboys defense put the clamps on Hutchinson Wednesday as the Blue Dragons were a paltry 4-of-26 from beyond the arc.

"We knew going in that they liked to shoot the three and so we were really focused in on stopping that. They had two good nights of shooting but it's hard to keep that pace up at this level even on your home court," said Cowboy veteran coach Bill Muse who broke a two-game losing streak against Hutchinson in the national tournament with the win.

At the other end the Cowboys with sophomore sensation Bradyn Hubbard taking charge, outscored Hutchinson 52-36 in the paint. It was a strategy that Connors had some "inside" help formulating.

"You know Tony Green and Ty Frierson both transferred here from Hutchinson and so they had some real insight on how to get to them and that helped us concentrate on going inside," said Muse.

Hutchinson grabbed the early lead in the game until Connors put on an 18-6 run down the stretch of the first half to take a 39-28 lead which the Blue Dragons cut to six in the final minute of the half.

The Cowboys ran off six unanswered points to open the second half to lead by a dozen and Hutch never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Hubbard was nearly unstoppable inside as he led all scorers with 29 points and was one of five Cowboys in double figures to go along with 17 for Donyae Mae, 13 for Khamani Cooper, 12 for Buddy Hammer Jr. who had just two points at halftime, and Tony Green with 10. Connors won the rebounding battle as well with 45 boards compared to 30 for Hutch. Taking the ball inside all night while eschewing the 3-point tries, the Cowboys shot 51.6 percent from the field compared to just 37 percent for the Dragons.

The Cowboys will play in Thursday's Final Four against Triton College at 7:15 p.m. joining Indian Hills and top-ranked Barton College in the semifinals marking Muse's fourth trip to the semis as the head man at Connors.

And so far, the glass slipper has been a perfect fit for the Cowboys.