Broncbusters Share the Rock, Snap Skid, in Win over Northwest Tech
Garden City Community College mens basketball team hosted Northwest Kansas Technical College on Saturday, December 09, 2023 at Conestoga Arena in Garden City, Kan. The Busters defeated the Mavericks 91 - 76. Photo credits; Adam Shrimplin, Shrimplin Photography
GARDEN CITY, KS. – It’s been a stretch filled with adversity at every turn for Rusty Elmore. Injuries have piled up, bad possessions in key moments have stayed on the minds of his team.
For one day, things clicked down the stretch. A gigantic weight came off the shoulders of plenty in the yellow and brown. Relief felt so sweet.
Saturday brought victory for the Garden Broncbusters, who snapped a three-game losing streak against the Northwest Tech Mavericks, 91-76, in their final Jayhawk game in 2023. Garden City put on an excellent offensive performance, shooting 61.1 percent as a team.
“It feels great, we hadn’t won a game in two weeks,” head coach Rusty Elmore said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be more happy to go into this break eight-and-five. You look at our bench, I could probably go .500 in the league with the guys I have dressed in tracksuits.”
Four different Broncbusters (7-5, 4-3 KJCCC) would score in double-figures in the victory, kickstarted by Braxton Jones’ phenomenal first-half play. Jones would start out hitting five of his first six three-pointers, pouring in 17 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Jones has been unconscious when coming off off-ball screens, and Saturday was no different. Whether it was a catch-and-shoot or in motion, Jones had everything working from distance.
Jones would finish with a career-high 31 points in the victory.
Garden City also did a really good job getting high-percentage looks in the painted area. GCCC pounded the well, scoring 40 points in the paint. Starting forwards Thomas Tut and Charles Chukwu combined for 31 points, each making six field goals from the floor.
“Charles was a man-child today,” Elmore said. “He was pretty solid, he looked good today.”
All of those performances wouldn’t have been possible without the crafty guard play of Brody Robinson. Robinson had nine assists before even taking a shot in the first half, setting up Jones on a couple of three pointers, also assisting Tut on an and-one.
Robinson finished with a career-high 13 assists against NW Tech.
“He was incredible,” Elmore said. “The way they’re playing, we had to move it against their 1-3-1 trap. It’s amazing how much our shooting percentages go up when we have a lot of assists.”
The second half saw Robinson step up to score the rock, Robinson poured in 11 second-half points to help the Broncbusters pull away from the Mavericks (3-8, 0-6 KJCCC).
The Broncbusters close their 2023 schedule tomorrow at home, as they host the Bethany JV Vikings. Coverage begins at 2:40 P.M., tip-off at 3:00, on KWKR 99.9 ‘The Rock’.
