Buffaloes Stifle Redskins to Move to 7-1 at Home

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – The simplest way to define winning basketball is scoring on more possessions than your opponent. Sometimes a team needs more than one shot for a successful possession, but the effort that is put in to get those extra shots may never be noticed by those who aren’t paying close attention.

Junior guard Dallas Rosales has been a pivotal part of Garden City’s rotation throughout the season, playing smart basketball and keeping possessions alive. His hard work never truly showed up on the final box scores, until Tuesday night.

Rosales was one of three Garden City Buffaloes who scored in double-figures, who earned another home win at The Garden against the Liberal Redskins, 60-47. The guard delivered 11 points, setting a new season-high.

“Dallas has always been one where he can make an impact, whether it’s in the stat book, or not in the stat book,” head coach Luke Swedberg said. “He’s probably the best effort guy we have… he keeps the basketball alive for us, to give us a few extra chances.”

The junior’s biggest quarter was the second, a frame that Garden City needed to win badly. Liberal started the game strong, going up 16-10 in the first eight minutes. Rosales played for roughly seven minutes in that frame, delivering 10 points.

Tuesday marked the first time Rosales had scored in double-figures all season.

“His minutes haven’t always been probably what he wants this year, but he continuously shows up,” Swedberg said. “Tonight, you saw some of that hard work paying off. I’m really happy for him that he got to come in, hit a couple of threes, and enjoy that.”

The Buffaloes’ defense held the Redskins to just 47 points, which was the fewest points surrendered by Garden City all season long. Garden City (7-8, 2-2 WAC) was excellent in the middle frames of the game, holding Liberal to just 15 points in the second and third quarters.

Liberal (5-11, 0-4 WAC) averaged nearly 60 points per game going into Tuesday.

“It took us a quarter to wake up, there, but we started to do the things defensively, especially, that make us a good basketball team,” Swedberg said. “We were able to enjoy the benefits on offense after that.”

The third quarter was where the Buffaloes caught fire offensively, attacking Liberal at all levels. Emilio Zundt, Maliek Kinney, and Raul Munoz all connected on three-pointers up high, while center Thomas Longa punished Liberal down low.

Longa scored six of his eight points in the third, as the Buffaloes wheeled to a 19-9 span.

“It’s really fun when the ball goes through a bunch of hands. Everybody shares it, everybody gets a touch on it,” Swedberg praised. “When that ball goes through the net at the end, it’s just like, ‘man, that’s great basketball right there.'”

Swedberg’s philosophies of team basketball definitely took some time to develop within this team. The Buffaloes have come a long way from their opening tournament to now, with bumps and bruises along the way.

Some nights, like Tuesday’s for Rosales, the effort shines through. The possessions where team basketball might have faced an unnecessary turnover in 2023 have turned to beautiful end-of-quarter possessions in 2024.

To quote renowned college basketball insider Jon Rothstein when referring to Florida Atlantic basketball, “it’s real. And it’s spectacular”.

The Buffaloes travel to Great Bend to take on the Panthers on Friday, looking for a third straight win. GCHS won the first meeting, 57-56, at The Garden last month. Coverage on 99.9 ‘The Rock’ begins following the conclusion of girls’ basketball’s 6:00 P.M. tip.

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