Men's Basketball November Games

Pratt Community College’s Men’s Basketball team has been busy this fall with pre-season, non-conference matchups.
 
 
Pratt vs Clarendon at Liberal, Kan. November 18
Pratt Beavers 79
Clarendon 84
 
The Beavers started out fast at the Seward County Classic, but gave up a double digit lead by getting outrebounded by 17 in the second half alone, and dropped a heartbreaker to Clarendon. It would’ve helped to have Aaron Abram and Troy Smith, two of our better rebounders who sat the weekend with injuries, but that’s life sometimes, and Clarendon essentially shot until they finally made it. Despite five double-figure scorers, the Beavers fell to 3-2 with the loss.
 
 
Pratt vs Redlands at Liberal, Kan. November 19
Pratt Beavers 63
Redlands 61
 
We bounced back that Saturday with another nail-biter, but this time we rode home victorious. We jumped out to another double-digit lead that we once again saw crumble, but we boxed them out just enough to escape with the win. We were also without the services of Chad Coachman in this contest, and, after Trae Beck and John Rutherford went down with injuries, we were left with five Beavers to fend off Redlands’ furious rally. Luckily, we held on with the help of Armani Brown’s 21 points, two of which took came on a Sports Center-type of alley-oop dunk, and moved to 4-2 with the win.
 
 
Pratt at Allen County Community College November 22
Pratt Beavers 63
Allen County 66
 
Three days after our trip to Liberal we hopped on the Beaver Wagon again for a visit to Iola, Kan., and our third meeting with Allen County on the young season. They say it’s always hard to beat a team three times, especially when the third time comes on the road, and we listened to “them.” We jumped out to a 16 point first half lead, but watched the Red Devils methodically erase another double-digit Beaver lead. We led for most of the second half before surrendering to the hot shooting of Allen’s big men, and the Beavers limped home 4-3.
 
 
Pratt vs Neosho County November 25
Pratt Beavers 59
Neosho County 53
 
Thanksgiving rejuvenated a banged up Beaver squad, and the guys put the clamps on a talented Neosho crew in the Beaver Dome. In a back and forth defensive battle, the Beavers’ Bryton Hobbs scored three buckets down the stretch to pull away from the feisty Panthers, and give the Beavers their best win on the young season. Coach Shaw couldn’t be happier in holding a talented squad to 53 points, never mind the lackluster shooting performance. Josh May hauled in 10 big rebounds for the Beavers, which was a welcome sight, because the young man has probably had his hands on ten rebounds in every game he’s played, but bringing the ball in has been another story, until Friday night. The win moved us to 5-3.
 
 
Pratt vs Friends JV November 26
Pratt Beavers 88
Friends JV 62
 
It was apparent from the outset that our young Beavers spilled their bucket vs Neosho County, and didn’t save much for the JV’ers from Friends University. Luckily, we had enough talent to cruise through the second half though against an undermanned opponent. Aaron Abram, in his third game back after sitting out the Liberal contests, led with way with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Bryton Hobbs threw in 21 points for the Beavers, and Trae Beck knocked in 6 three-pointers to go for 18 points in another day at the office for him. With the win your Beavers currently sit at 6-3, and will travel with our ladies to Cowley County Tuesday night for highly anticipated match-up with a perennial Jayhawk East title contender. Bryton Hobbs is a transfer from Cowley County, and Tayler Rock is from Arkansas City, Kansas. After the game on Saturday night the boys were already looking forward to their Tuesday night match-up.