Buffs survive and advance; hold off shorthanded Grizzlies
Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-On paper, there was no way in the world Wichita Northwest could matchup with Garden City; not after it was learned that five-key Grizzlies’ players would miss Wednesday night’s substate semifinal because of off-the-court issues. But when has paper ever correlated with actual real-life results?
Despite being outmatched and outmanned, Wichita Northwest pushed the heavily-favored Buffaloes to the limit before the brown and white crawled to a 46-41 victory at the Garden.
“I could say all the turnovers could have cost us,” Garden City Head Coach Jacy Holloway said afterwards. “I could also say that dribble penetration could have cost us. But in the end, we won the game. It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.”
The Grizzlies defense, which forced five second-quarter turnovers, carried Wichita Northwest (6-15, 3-11) early on, helping the visitors take a 13-9 lead despite missing 11 of their first 15 shots.
“They were beating us to the punch early on,” Holloway said. “We finally pushed back.”
They did by closing the half on a 10-6 run to tie the game at 19. That run continued in the second half, with the Buffaloes using a 10-2 spurt to begin the third, eventually building their lead to as many as 12 points in the final six minutes of the game. That’s when the Grizzlies changed things up.
“Their press bothered us at times tonight,” Holloway said.
That press allowed Wichita Northwest, a team that hadn’t won a game since January 27, back into it, fueling a 15-5 run. And when Michael Duncan splashed home a mid-range jumper, Garden City’s once double-digit lead had dwindled to two 43-41 with 1:49 left.
“We have to stop turning the ball over,” Holloway said. “And they kept getting to the rim; that killed us late.”
Those mistakes gave the Grizzlies ample opportunity to steal one down the stretch. Their first chance to tie it came following a Caleb Tramp turnover; however Nick Williams, who found a path to the baseline, missed a 10-foot floater that sailed completely over the rim. After a foul, Jared Koster split a pair of free throws to give the Buffaloes a three-point edge.
After a timeout, Wichita Northwest had one more chance to tie the game with 17 seconds. Using a motion offense, Grizzlies Coach Bryan Chadwick directed his team to reverse the ball; they did, and Duncan found himself wide open in the far corner for an uncontested 3-pointer. But the ball bounced in and out; Koster grabbed the rebound; was fouled; hit two free throws, and Garden City survived.
“At times, we didn’t have all five of our guys playing defense the way we wanted,” Holloway said. “And it showed; big time.”
Koster paced the Buffaloes with 14 points. Tramp was the only other Garden City player in double figures with 13.
Duncan netted nine points to fuel the Grizzlies, who lost their eighth straight game. Williams, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, tallied eight points. John Short and Dawson Kohlman each had six.
Tip ins: The win coupled with Maize’s victory over Hutchinson means the Buffaloes will travel to Maize for the Substate Finals; if the Garden City girls win Thursday night, and Maize girls win, both Garden City teams will be in Maize Saturday night for a doubleheader; If the Lady Buffs lose, Garden City boys will be at Maize Friday night…Garden City has won 6 of the 10 all-time meetings between the two teams…Wichita Northwest has now lost 10 out of their last 11 road games
Next up: vs. Maize, Date and Time TBA on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com; mobile app: KWKR and tuneinradio: KWKR
