Beaver Men Fall to Hutch in Last Minute

The game certainly lived up to its billing on Wednesday night at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena where the PCC Men's Basketball team hosted the Hutcinson Blue Dragons.  The game seesawed back and forth for much of the night with the Beavers appearing to be in control with five minutes remaining. 
 
However, Pratt scored only two points in the final five minutes and fell 70-67 to the 9th ranked Blue Dragons.
 
Pratt trailed by only one at the half, with the score 33-32 in favor of Hutch.  The Beavers held several five point leads but allowed Hutch back in the game each time.  Illi Baldwin, the league's top rebounder, picked up three early fouls and sat out much of the first half.
 
Pratt fell behind by ten early in the second stanza, but with ten minutes remaining had opened up a five point lead.  They extended that to eight on one of Trae Beck's five three pointers with five minutes remaining.  That put the score at 65-57 in Pratt's favor, but that was to be just about the end of Pratt's scoring.
 
For the remainder of the game the Beavers would connect on only two of Baldwin's four free throw attempts.  Hutch's 13-2 run provided the margin of victory.
 
Hutch did not actually go ahead until only 25 seconds remained. A three pointer put them up by one at 67-66.  Pratt missed on a drive to the bucket, then had to foul with 18.5 seconds left.  Hutch hit both to go up by three.  Pratt then got the potential three point play they wanted when Baldwin was fouled on a short jumper, but his shot didn't fall.  He hit his first free throw, but with only 6 ticks left, he had to miss his second attempt.  Pratt had a good shot at the rebound, but fouled in the effort.
 
Hutch hit the first one, and Pratt could not get off another shot in the 1.6 seconds that remained.
 
Trae Beck lead Pratt's offense with 21 points on 8 of 16 from the field and 5 of 11 from behind the arc.  Tyrone Gordon added 13, and Illi Baldwin had 11.  Jay Valerius led the rebounding effort with 8.
 
Pratt outrebounded Hutch 39 to 35 and had only 11 turnovers to the Blue Dragon's 18.  Hutch hardly went to the three, shooting only seven, but hitting four of those.  On the other hand, Pratt shot 25, but only hit 7.  Pratt continued to struggle at the line on 8 of 17 shooting for 47 percent.
 
Pratt will travel to Great Bend on Saturday to take on Barton at 8:00 p.m.