Garden City Dominates Weekend in Coronado to win Cougar Tip-off Gauntlet
Colorado Springs, CO (WesternKansasNews.Com) – After two days of blitzing teams out of the gym and picking up two wins Garden City Head Coach Jeff Williamson thought there might be a different defensive wrinkle by the next team the Buffs played. Palmer Ridge (1-2) came out and showed a tough zone against Garden City (3-0). “We figured most teams would see the way we played and know that they wouldn’t be able to keep up in man to man, it was great to see how our guys responded to that different look on defense.”
While the offense was a little slower to start for the Buffs they picked up the same result a 59-45 win in the Championship matchup on Saturday. With the zone that Palmer Ridge showed Garden City would have to do at least one of two things pound the offense down low or shoot over the zone. The Buffs attacked with the first option and they leaned heavily on senior forward Caleb Wiese, “Caleb is a player who does everything that is asked of him, he played so well and battled through so much today.” Wiese would finish with 27 points and 11 rebounds despite playing through a bloody nose and a busted lip. The injury occurred late in the 3rd quarter when Wiese took an arm to the face. He raced back from the trainer’s table to get back into the game to start the 4th quarter.
Garden City finished the Cougar Tip-off Gauntlet 3-0 and didn’t win a game by anything score than 14 points. It was a dominating weekend in Colorado Springs en route to a championship and spark to start the season. Jace Steinmetz added 11 points for Garden City and scored in double figures every game of the Gauntlet including games of 24 points and 29 points. “We will get back and look at what we did well and get set for Roundball this weekend, it will be nice to take a day and then get right back to it this week.” Said Williamson about approaching the Roundball Classic in Garden City. The Buffs will start the weekend against Coronado at 7:30 pm in Garden City. You can hear the game on 99.9 “The Rock” and catch the Buffs there all season long.
