Buffalo boys fall to KC Turner in 7th place game
Garden City found itself playing catch-up from the very beginning against Kansas City Turner and the Buffaloes finally fell to the Golden Bears 63-51 on Saturday, finishing eighth in the January Jam at Valley Center.
Garden City controlled the opening tip and scored quickly to go up 2-0, but KC Turner responded with 5 unanswered points to lead 5-2. Tye Davis tied it with a trey, but Turner pushed out to a 9-5 lead. The Buffs would finish the 1st quarter with an 8-4 run to force a 13-13 tie heading to the 2nd quarter.
A Russell Reed trey to open the 2nd period put Turner back up by 3, and the Golden Bears never trailed after that. Cold shooting and turnovers kept thwarting the Buffaloes as Turner built an 11-point lead, 32-21 with a minute left in the half. Garden City scored the half’s final basket to go to the locker room trailing 32-23. The Buffaloes shot just 35% from the field in the 1st half, compared to KC Turner’s 54% shooting.
In the 3rd quarter, Turner kept Garden City at bay until a quick 5-0 run, sparked by a old-fashioned 3-point play from Demarcus Elliott, cut the Golden Bear lead to five, 42-37. But the Golden Bears finished the quarter on a 4-0 run to lead 46-37.
Trailing by 11 early in the 4th, the Buffaloes rallied with a 7-0 run, capped by a Demarcus Elliot block at one end and a Kyler Lamb lay-up at the other end, making it a four point game, 50-46 with less than five minutes to play.
But the Buffaloes could get no closer and the Golden Bears closed with a 13-5 run, including several easy baskets as the Buffs had to chase to try force turnovers down the stretch.
Demarcus Elliot led Garden City with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. Tye Davis and Jarrod Springston each added 8 points. The Buffaloes shot just 38% from the field, 23% (5 of 22) from beyond the arc. KC Turner’s Russell Reed led all scorers with 17 points, hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Turner out-rebounded Garden City 41-24.
The Buffaloes fall to 6-6 on the year, while KC Turner is now 4-6.
Up next for Garden City: a return home to face Ulysses on Tuesday.
