Denver South powers past Garden City
Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-Following their loss to Scott City, Garden City boys coach Jacy Holloway stressed that his team had to be better defensively.
Unfortunately, Denver South made that task very difficult at times.
Chudier Bile recorded his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 boards, Jamison Jendrush added 16, and the Rebels shot a season-best 52 percent en route to a 75-68 win Friday night at the Garden.
“Defensively, we are not where we need to be,” Holloway said afterwards. “We were better tonight, but we still need to improve.”
Denver South (6-3) came out and hit 7 of their first 14 shots from the field. But it was in the third period where the Rebels created separation. They connected on 11-of-19 shots, sparked by Jendrush’s nine-point quarter that saw Denver South outscore Garden City (3-4) 25-17 in the frame to take a 12-point lead.
“We couldn’t stop their penetration all night,” Holloway explained. “They made it tough to deal with.”
That advantage grew to as many as 18 with less than three minutes to go in the game following Courtney Dean’s two free throws.
“Our biggest problem tonight was the fact that we didn’t have any post presence,” Holloway explained.
The reason for that was simple: for the second straight game, Scott Schmidt was in foul trouble. He eventually fouled out with 4:56 to play.
“Scott has to find a way to stay on the floor,” Holloway said. “That’s been his biggest problem. He didn’t play much.”
Despite Schmidt’s absence, the Buffaloes made things interesting down the stretch, thanks to a 22-point second-half explosion from Jared Koster. The senior finished with a career-high 33 points, tying a season-high with six treys, including back-to-back triples that fueled a 14-4 run and cut the lead to eight 74-66 with 3:19 to play. But Garden City mustered only two points the rest of the way.
Garrett Doll was the only other Buffalo in double figures with 11 points, but he missed 11 of his 14 shots from the field. Zac Karlin added nine.
Connor Nelson finished with 13 points for Denver South, who beat Garden City for the third straight season. Dean added 13 and seven boards.
Tip ins: Denver South became the third team this season to shoot 50 percent or better vs. Garden City and the second in a row (Scott City shot 60 percent and Newton 50)…The Buffaloes were outrebounded (39-25) for the fifth time in seven games…Denver South now leads the all-time series 3-1…It took Koster 25 shots to score a career-best 33 points (10-of-25; he was 6-of-14 in the second half)
Next up: Garden City at Great Bend-Friday, January 8-5:45 p.m. pregame; 6 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansansews.com; mobile app: KWKR and tuneinradio app: KWKR
Other Scores
Garden City girls 52, Denver South 22
