Chaos in final seconds; Busters fall late
Final Highlights: GCCC vs. Barton
Garden City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Some losses sting more than others. For the Garden City men, Saturday night’s one-point defeat to Barton County definitely hurts.
Darius Gibson scored a game-high 22 points, and Tyler Corley sank two clutch free throws in the final seconds as the Cougars beat the Busters 65-64 at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
“I’m just getting tired of everyone shooting 40 plus free throws,” Head Coach Brady Trenkle said. “I don’t know what we do different than anyone else.”
The Cougars shot 17 more free throws than Garden City, but really it was the final two that made all the difference in the world.
Down one with under 20 seconds to play, the Busters had a chance to pull in front after Gibson turned it over. Trenkle put the ball in the hands of Jalen Variste, who finished the night with a career-high 19 points. The freshman penetrated into the lane and let it go from 12 feet out. The shot, which was on line-clanked off the back rim, but Tiodell Pierre stuck is left hand up and tapped it back in-giving the Busters a 64-63 lead with five seconds remaining.
It seemed like Garden City (17-6, 3-4) would steal one at home after trailing by as many as 11 points, but Variste was whistled for a foul with 3.2 seconds left-sending Corley to the line. The sophomore didn’t flinch-swishing the first free shot knotting the game at 64. With the home crowd screaming trying to distract him, Corley’s second attempt spun out, hung on the front rim for what seemed like an eternity and fell through-putting the Cougars up 65-64.
After a timeout, Trenkle went back to his freshman point guard. Variste took the inbounds pass in the back court, weaved through heavy traffic before unloading a runner from the foul line. But the shot was too strong, and the Cougars escaped with their first victory at the DPAC since January 15, 2011.
“Everything in this game comes down to the first half,” Trenkle said. “I don’t know where our energy and emotion was. We’re going to watch some film and see what we have to do to correct some things.”
The Busters got off to a quick start, fueled by Keegan’ Oyugi’s behind-the-back bounce bass that set up Jeremy Wilson’s emphatic dunk. Then Miles Banks right-handed hook in the lane extended the Buster lead to 14-10.
But Corley answered back with one of his three 3-pointers in the first half-sparking a 13-0 Cougars run. Barton would take a 30-23 lead into the locker room.
Barton (16-7, 4-3) built their lead to 11 early in the second half. But the Busters chiseled it down to one before taking the lead late.
Jade Cathy and Pierre each scored 10 for the Busters. Tyler Corley added 15 for the Cougars while Raheem Johnson chipped in 14.
Next up: Garden City vs. Hutchinson-Wednesday, February 5 7:30 pm on AM 1030 KBUF and westernkansasnews.com
Final Stats: GCCC vs. Barton men
Women: Barton 80, Garden City 62
Final Highlights: GCCC vs. Barton women
It’s hard to fathom that one play can change the complexity of an entire game, but that’s exactly what happened to the Buster women Saturday night.
Mariana Lambert scored 21 points and Barton County shot 51 percent en route to an 18-point victory at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
“I just thought we settled for jump shots too much,” Head Coach Nick Salazar said after the game. “We just didn’t have that extra gear to get into the lane.”
Despite a lot of missed jumpers, the Busters closed an 11-point deficit all the way down to one–thanks to 10-0 run late in the second half. But that’s when everything changed.
With Barton leading 58-57 with under five minutes to play, Taylor Mayes drew a foul on Zantaya Davis. The basket was good, and in the heat of the moment, Davis hit the ball to the floor with two hands. That action proved costly when the freshman was whistled for a technical foul. The first foul was the fourth, but the technical handed the transfer from Middle Tennessee State her fifth and a spot on the bench for the final four minutes.
“That was definitely the turning point,” Salazar said. “But we’ve told Zantaya all year that you can’t put yourself into that type of situation.”
Lambert’s two technical shots made it a four-point possession-giving the Lady Cougars a 62-57 lead. Then Garden City then watched as Barton (16-7, 4-3) closed the game on a 22-5 run, turning a nail biter into a runaway.
In the first half, Garden City (12-10, 4-3) found themselves down by as many as 12 thanks to Lambert’s three-point assault. The freshman from Brazil, who was shooting only 30 percent from downtown coming in, hit back-to-back triples late in the opening half. As a team, Barton finished 5-of-9 from distance.
The Busters cut the lead down to four in the final minute of the half only to see Dodge City product Ciera Lampe drain a straight-on 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down. It was Lampe’s only bucket of the game.
Cheyenne Hedrington finished with 14 points; Mayes added 13. Shaqunna Collins was the only Buster in double figures with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Next up: Garden City vs. Hutch-Wednesday, February 5-5:30 pm on AM 1030 KBUF and westernkansasnews.com
Final Stats: GCCC vs. Barton women
