Busters sweep Clarendon
Garden City, KS (westerkansasnews.com)-Not that Brady Trenkle’s team needed any extra motivation, but with brotherly love coming into the Perryman Athletic Complex for the Thanksgiving Classic Friday and Saturday, it was imperative to dispose of Clarendon quickly. Can you say mission accomplished.
The Busters raced out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back-ransacking the Bulldogs into submission 100-67 Tuesday night.
“We’re just trying to get better,” Trenkle said after the game. “Our guys knows what’s in store this weekend. We just wanted to get Clarendon out of the way.”
They did that and then some, shooting a season-best 57 percent from the field on 33-of-58. Five Busters notched double figures including Davon Anderson, who scored a game-high 21 points coming off the bench.
“Davon has found his niche coming off the bench,” Trenkle said. “He’s really accepted his role.”
Anderson got plenty of help from Johnathan Bell, who came out on fire-connecting on his first four shots and finishing with 15 points.
“John is having a great season,” Trenkle said. “He’s in a groove.”
Tidell Pierre scored 16 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds; five of those coming on the offensive glass. Tyrell springer chipped in 14 points and 3 steals, while JT Bennett scored a season-high 12 points.
Garden City (9-1, 0-0) won the rebounding war for a ninth straight game and connected on a season-high 11 3-pointers.
Their defense forced 15 turnovers and held the Bulldogs to just 37 percent shooting in the first half.
Johnnie Brown scored 14 points to lead the Bulldogs (4-8), while Khalil Newton added 10.
Next up: Garden City vs. Northeastern, CO-Friday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m. on AM 1030 KBUF; kbuf mobile.com and mobile app: KBUF
Women
12 days ago, Nick Salazar watched his team climb on Loysha Morris’s back all the way to a come-from-behind victory. On Tuesday night, Morris was the one riding the wave of her team’s success.
Justina James scored a season-high 20 points, and the Buster defense held one of the most lethal 3-point shooting teams in the country to just 2-of-19 from beyond the arc in an 88-61 victory over Clarendon Tuesday night at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
“I’m actually blown away that they (Clarendon) did not play better than they did,” Salazar said afterwards. “I was very concerned coming into this game today because they came in feeling like they almost had us at their place. So I thought she would have them fired up, but they just could never get anything going.”
A lot had to do with Garden City’s full-court press, which generated 22 turnovers. Their offense was just as effective, running Salazar’s triangle with direct precision-shooting 48 percent from the floor on 24-of 50.
What makes this win even more impressive is that they did it with Morris having one of her worst offensive games of the season. The sophomore, who’s sitting on a multitude of Division-I offers, scored just six points on 1-of-6 shooting. It was her second lowest offensive output of the season
Morris didn’t play much in the first half because of foul trouble, but she didn’t have to as Garden City built up a 14-point lead midway through the opening stanza.
Taleah Williams recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tori Spann added 15 off the bench.
Jaylee Mays, who came in second in the nation in scoring, was held to 13 points on 4-of-15 from the field. Alesha Higgins netted 12.
With the win, Garden City improved to 7-3, while Clarendon fell to 8-5.
Next up: Garden City vs. New Mexico-Friday, November 28-5:15 p.m. pregame; 5:30 p.m. tip on AM 1030 KBUF; kbufmobile.com and mobile app: KBUF
