Broncbuster women beat Pratt; men fall in final seconds

Women

Garden City, KS-Defense, defense, defense. It is something that first-year coach Charinee Mitchell has been preaching since arriving on campus back in May.

Saturday night, while their offense struggled to find their footing, it was a tenacious defense that ultimately was the deciding factor.

Abigail Green scored 11 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and dished out six assists while the Broncbusters held Pratt to just 27 percent shooting, as Garden City downed the Beavers 58-42 at Conestoga Arena.

“It’s a win,” Mitchell said afterwards. “But it was far from perfect. It wasn’t pretty.”

Offensively, Garden City (6-6, 4-5) had a hard time finding any rhythm, missing their first three shots. In fact, Jada Washington’s 3-pointer at the 6:46 mark of the first period, was the Broncbusters first field goal.

“It was ugly, that’s all there is to it,” Mitchell said. “We are still not doing the things that we need to do. We are getting better, but we still have a long ways to go.”

The Broncbusters eventually created separation after Kala Jones drilled a 15-footer and Washington nailed her second trey of the opening frame. Garden City led by nine after one.

“We didn’t play great, but our energy was really good in this one,” Mitchell said. “This is a hard time to play because of finals and because it’s the end of the semester.”

The Broncbusters grabbed their first double-digit advantage of the contest when Shekendra Tilley converted a layup that made it 25-14 with 3:58 to play in the first half. The sophomore followed that up with a baseline jumper over three Beaver defenders, Talia Roberts hit a shot from the elbow, and Garden City had a 29-18 advantage at the half despite shooting just 28 percent over the first 20 minutes.

“I say it every game, but we are still learning,” Mitchell said. “These games worry me the most because you’re playing a team that has struggled, and they have nothing to lose. We tried to hammer that fact home to our kids.”

The only drama in the second half is when Pratt cut the lead to single digits on two occasions. But the Broncbusters answered with a 10-3 run to close the third, and led 42-29 going into the final quarter. Green added a 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth, Roberts splashed home a jumper, and Washington nailed two freebies to spark a 7-0 that pushed the lead to 19. It eventually swelled to 25 with 2:00 to go.

“We are still looking to put a complete game together,” Mitchell said. “That’s our challenge right now. Now, we have to get these players ready for one more game, which will be a challenge in itself.”

Washington scored 13 points and was 2-of-3 from distance for Garden City, who improved to 5-1 at home this season. Tilley recorded her first double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Roberts added nine points off the bench.

Tianna Tullis scored 11 points for Pratt, who lost their ninth straight game; their longest losing streak since 2009-2010. Dakota Smith chipped in 10.

Next up: Garden City at Otero-Tuesday, Dec. 12-6:15 p.m. pregame; 6:30 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app

Men

Garden City, KS-Garden City Coach Brady Trenkle had a worried look in his face following his team’s impressive road victory Wednesday at Cloud County.

“We still have to play Pratt, and they’re still averaging like a 100 points per game,” he said. “That’s pretty scary.”

On Saturday, those fears were recognized as the Broncbusters got a first-hand look at just how lethal the Beavers are offensively.

Sophomore guard A.J. Banks tallied 16 points including the game-winning layup with 1.9 seconds to play, and Pratt stunned Garden City 93-92 at Conestoga Arena.

“I don’t care what the numbers show, that’s a team that can score a ton of points,” Trenkle said after the game. “And we tried to play their game.”

Pratt shot 46 percent from the field and nailed 13-of-26 from long distance. It was the fourth time this season that Garden City gave up double-digit 3-pointers in a game.

“We didn’t play defense at all tonight,” Trenkle said. “It’s as simple as that. They had guys wide open all night long.”

The Beavers shooting display should not have been a surprise to anyone as the Beavers entered play Saturday as the best perimeter team in the Jayhawk conference. All this game did was prove that it was not an anomaly.

The Beavers drilled five of their six, first-half triples in the game’s first 10 minutes, helping erase an early deficit. Then Wilson drained his second 3-pointer of the opening period with 9:50 to play, igniting a 13-3 run that put Pratt (6-7, 3-6) up 35-27.

“You’ve got a guy like Sean Flynn that’s battling for his job right now,” Trenkle said. “He’s proven that he can coach in this league.”

Flynn took over for Max Good, who resigned back on Nov. 14. Up until Saturday, his team had lost four out of the first five games under his direction.

“His guys played well for him tonight,” Trenkle added.

With Garden City struggling on offense, Pierre Johnson carried the load, scoring 10 of his team-high 24 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer with 6:22 left that cut the Pratt lead to four, 34-30. Then, trailing by six, it was Kendale Hampton off the bench, knocking one down from distance with 30 seconds remaining, and Garden City was down three at the half, 44-41.

“I kept telling my coaches that we don’t deserve to win this game,” Trenkle said. “And we really didn’t.”

The Broncbusters’ struggles guarding the 3, were well documented coming in. They came in second to last in the conference in opponents’ 3-point percentage.

“Until we sure that up, we are going to struggle,” Trenkle said. “But these guys know what they had to do.”

One of those defensive lapses came with 8:07 remaining, when Russhard Cruickshank was late on a close out, and fouled Wilson shooting a triple. The sophomore guard hit 1-of-3 at the line, but the Beavers had their biggest lead of the second half 75-67.

“We just have to be better,” Trenkle said. “We will be better from this. But I had guys worried about how they were getting home for Christmas. Their minds were somewhere else tonight.”

As he did in the first half, Johnson kept his team afloat, hitting a driving layup, which was followed up by Cruickshank’s 3-pointer and a Jamir Thomas layup that pulled Garden City to within one, 75-74 with 7:21 to play. But every time the Broncbusters inched closer, Pratt had an answer on the other end.

Clinton Bentley’s jumper and Wilson’s two free three throws stymied the Broncbusters first surge late in the second half. Then, when Cruickshank hit a triple to tie the contest at 81 with 4:27 left, the Beavers responded with five straight points: Devin Marsh’s 3-pointer and James Brooks’ two free throws that pushed the Beavers’ advantage to 88-83.

“Give them credit, they hit a bunch of shots tonight,” Trenkle said. “But our guys knew the scouting report, we just didn’t do what we were supposed to.”

The Broncbusters kept coming, and Cruickshank’s fifth triple of the game coupled with Octavious Meadows’ stick back, knotted the contest at 88 with 1:12 to play. But as they did all night long, Pratt had an answer, and Banks trey from the top of the key put Pratt up three.

“We just didn’t have an answer,” Trenkle said. “Yet, we still had a chance to win the game.”

That was made possible thanks to Thomas, whose three-point play with 21 seconds to go, gave Garden City a 92-91 advantage; their first lead since the 10-minute mark of the first half.

“All we needed was one stop,” Trenkle explained.

And it appeared they had it when Hampton swatted Brooks’ shot in the final seconds. Instead, the ball bounced right to Banks, who sprinted unimpeded to the rim for an uncontested layup that put Pratt up one.

“I have three guys sprinting back on offense when we don’t need to score,” Trenkle said. “We get a stop, and we win the game.”

Garden City still had one more chance, but after an inbounds pass was deflected out of bounds, Thomas’s half-court heave sailed wide left, giving Pratt back-to-back victories at Conestoga Arena.

Asem Johnson scored 16 points for the Beavers, who won back-to-back games for just the second time this season. Marsh added 11 off the bench, and Bentley had 10.

(Pierre) Johnson was sensational again for Garden City, scoring 24 points, dishing out 11 assists and pulling down six rebounds. Thomas had 22, and Cruickshank added 17.

Next up: Garden City at Coffeyville-Wednesday, Jan. 3-7:30 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app