Brunson comes up clutch again; Buffaloes down Ulysses
Valley Center, KS-Griff Brunson is arguably one of the best baseball players to come out of Garden City High School in quite some time. That said-this whole thing about him moonlighting as a basketball star; it seems to be working out pretty well.
As he’s done so often this season, Brunson saved his best for last, converting the go-ahead three-point play with 22 seconds left before stealing the ball away from Jaidon Taylor with time winding down, as the Buffaloes advanced to the Consolation Championship Game of the 2017 January Jam with a 60-57 victory over Ulysses at Valley Center High School.
“Griff has played really well in crunch time,” Garden City Coach Jacy Holloway said. “He’s always in the right place at the right time.”
Brunson rescued the Buffaloes when it appeared a third straight loss was in order; especially after Abraham Romero converted an uncontested layup with 32 seconds to go that put the Tigers up 57-55.
“I just kept telling them to run our stuff,” Holloway said. “Our defense was far from great, but we got it together when we needed to.”
Following Romero’s bucket, Brunson took a handoff from Garrett Doll at the top of the key, froze the defense with a crossover dribble before slashing to the goal and laying it in off the glass while absorbing a hit from Tre Pauda. The senior calmly sank the free throw to give Garden City (4-8, 2-1) a 58-57 advantage.
“I liked how we attacked in that situation,” Holloway said. “We can’t sit around and wait for things to happen.”
The three-point play was sensational, but it was Brunson’s contribution on the other end on the Tigers ensuing possession that put the game away.
As Taylor moved towards the top of the key, Brunson slid with him step for step. As Taylor went left, Brunson swiped at the ball with his right hand poking it free. The senior scooped up the loose change, sprinted into the frontcourt and found a streaking Tye Davis for a transition layup, giving the Buffaloes a 60-57 edge with 8 seconds to play.
“Our defense was sluggish most of the game,” Holloway noted. “But that was just a great team effort by those guys at the end.”
Ulysses had one last chance to send it to overtime, but Romero’s 3-pointer clanged harmlessly off the back of the rim, and the Buffaloes avoided their second three-game losing streak of the season.
“Our offense wasn’t perfect,” Holloway admitted. “But we executed our stuff, and didn’t turn it over.”
Holloway was right; their offense was far from perfect. But their free throw shooting was out-of-this-world good. Garden City set a new season mark by drilling 17-of-17 free throws. They hit all 10 of their attempts in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve never done that in my time here,” Holloway said. “It was refreshing because we kept getting to the line. You have to be able to make those in crunch time, and we did.”
The momentum shifted hands on several occasions in the first half, with Ulysses sharp shooter Zack Zerr showing the touch from outside in the first quarter. The senior drilled four 3-pointers and scored 12 of his team’s first 15 points as the Tigers built an early 15-11 edge. But the Buffaloes countered right back, thanks in large part to Zerr picking up his third foul early in the second period. That allowed Garden City to gain control, taking the lead on Zac Karlin’s elbow jumper with 2:15 left in the half. The brown and white had a three-point cushion at the break.
Then the Tigers came out swinging in the third; more specifically Pauda, who scored eight of his 13 points in the period to help Ulysses build a 37-30 lead with 2:13 to go in the frame. But Garden City’s Garrett Doll had a resounding answer, going on his own personal 10-0 run in the fourth including a dazzling three-point play that tied the game at 51.
“We just kept coming,” Holloway said. “That’s all you can ask for. Our effort was there.”
Back-to-back buckets by Bryan Garcia pushed the Tigers lead to four with two minutes left before Evan Allen-Mader put back his own miss and Brunson drained two freebies to knot the contest at 55.
Doll scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half for the Buffaloes, who beat Ulysses for a seventh straight time. Brunson added 13 points, two rebounds, four steals and five assists. Allen-Made chipped in a career-high 12 off the bench.
Zerr netted 14 for the Tigers but was held to just one bucket over the final 24 minutes. Garcia scored 14 and Romero had eight. Taylor, who netted 27 in a one-point loss to Valley Center on Thursday, tallied just three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Next up: Garden City vs. Wichita Northwest (Consolation Championship Game)-Saturday, January 21-3:30 p.m. pregame; 3:45 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and mobile app: KWKR
