Late-game heroics lift Busters
Audio Highlights: GCHS vs. Lamar
Lamar, Co (westernakansasnews.com)-Good teams win even when they’re not supposed to. Garden City got a taste of that on Tuesday.
Jeremy Wilson scored a team-high 15 points including the winning bucket with 1.5 seconds to play helping Garden City survive an upset bid and beat Lamar 70-69.
“We got one,” Busters Head Coach Brady Trenkle said afterwards. “Jeremy made a great shot; Jade made a great move to get him the ball. It felt like we had to run 15 out-of-bounds sets in the final six seconds of the game.”
Lamar (3-11) gave Garden City (8-2) all they could handle-scoring the first seven points of the second half and building an eight-point lead.
“Give Lamar credit; their kids showed up to play tonight,” Trenkle said. “We’re just fortunate to get the win.”
Tiwian Kendley kept the Busters at bay, scoring 18 points and seven rebounds. But it was Byuk Tutlan who killed Garden City with three monster three-pointers. Add in Aaron Murray’s late floater, and the brown and gold were staring at a three-point deficit with under two minutes to go.
But even down late, Trenkle’s team never blinked. Wilson hit a floater in the lane that gave Garden City a brief 68-69 lead with 1:10 remaining. It didn’t last long.
On the ensuing Lamar possession, it appeared Garden City would get the stop they needed after Cathy partially blocked Theo Brown’s shot at the rim. But Brown grabbed the loose ball and laid it in to give the Lopes a one-point lead with 54 seconds.
Garden City turned the ball over on the next sequence giving the Lopes a chance to run out the clock. But Tutlan was whistled for an illegal screen giving the ball back to the Busters. Trenkle then called a timeout to setup the final play.
With six seconds to play, Variste tossed the inbounds pass to Cathy; Lamar coach Adam Schwartz sensed the decision and sent two defenders in the sophomore’s direction. After two dribbles, Cathy passed up to Wilson at the foul line. Wilson then spun backwards, and hit a 15-foot fallaway jumper over Kendley to give the Busters a one-point lead.
Lamar had one more chance to win the game, but Kendley’s straight-on three was well short and Garden City escaped.
Notes: June Johnson only played five minutes on the night after breaking his nose early in the first half. He played briefly in the second half before finally coming out of the game for good.
Next up: Garden City vs. Kingdom Prep-Friday, December 6-4 pm on AM 1030 KBUF and westerkansasnews.com.
Final Stats: GCHS vs. Lamar
