Misfire in closing seconds costs Buster men their season
Hutchinson, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-If you hopped aboard the rollercoaster that was the Garden City men’s season, you were treated to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Saturday night in the conference tournament, you got a little bit of both.
“We’ve seen this story before,” Head Coach Brady Trenkle said. “It’s only ironic that our season ends like this.”
That bit of irony wasn’t the least bit surprising to the second-year coach, who watched his team fall down by as many as 14 points; come back to take the lead; miss free throws in the final minutes and then miss a game-tying shot in the final seconds as No. 23 Hutchinson ended the Busters season with a 70-68 victory at the Sports Arena in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament.
“These guys gave me everything they had,” Trenkle said. “We just couldn’t finish.”
That’s been the story all year long. But even after falling down 25-11 in a turnover-plagued first 13 minutes, you never got the sense that Garden City (17-14, 6-10) was ever that far out of it. But as they cut the deficit to single digits late in the opening period, it was Blue Dragons’ reserve guard Che Bob who drilled a contested 3-pointer from the left wing to give Hutchinson a 12-point lead at the half.
“That shot was a killer,” Trenkle said afterwards. “We start chipping away, and then that happens. But you have to give the kid credit.”
That trey didn’t deter the Busters in the second half, as Garden City eventually pulled even at 60 following a steal by Tyrell Springer, who found J.T. Bennett streaking to the basket for a driving layup. The freshman guard had a huge final frame, scoring all 14 of his points in the peroid on the back of three massive triples that singlehandedly kept the Busters in the game.
“That kid (Bennett) has a bright future,” Trenkle explained. “He had a little coming out party tonight.”
His coming out party fueled a 38-24 run that gave the Busters a 63-61 lead with 4:01 to play. But Garden City could never put the game away, thanks in large part to four missed free throws by Davon Anderson in the final three minutes. The Busters were just 4-of-9 from the line in the second half.
“It’s the simple things that always beat us,” Trenkle said. “It’s never for a lack of effort with this team. It’s just the simple things.”
And it was another ironical subplot in the closing minutes that did Garden City in again. The Busters, who turned it over 10 times in the first half, played mistake free basketball for the first 17 minutes of the second. But that went out the window on an errant pass by Bennett towards the top of the key that was intercepted by DeShawn Freeman, who high stepped into the front court before throwing down a vicious two-handed jam that gave the Blue Dragons the lead for good 64-63.
“Those are the plays that have killed us all year,” Trenkle said.
Trailing 69-65 with less than a minute to play, Springer breathed life back into the Buster cause-nailing a triple from the right wing that pulled Garden City to within two. After Austin Budke, a 74-percent free-throw shooter, split a pair at the line, the Busters had and a chance to send the game to overtime. The play call had to be perfect, and it was.
The entire second half, Bennett used the constant motion of the Garden City offense to create space beyond the 3-point line. It worked to the tune of three straight 3-point makes midway through the second half. During the final sequence, it was that fear instilled in Blue Dragons coach Steve Eck’s mind that created the perfect opportunity for the potential game-tying shot.
As Hutchinson (25-6, 11-5) sold out to stop Bennett, who was standing beyond the 3-point line, the entire left side of the floor opened up. Johnathan Bell hit Springer on a perfect bounce pass from the wing to the elbow. Springer then spun left and saw an unimpeded path to the basket. With the clock spinning down, Springer raced to the rim but rushed an open layup, which hit the backboard and rim before falling into the hands of Davon Anderson, who missed a tap back at the buzzer; two golden chances blown in the less than three seconds.
“It was there for us,” Trenkle said shaking his head. “We just never learned how to finish games this year. But it was a great game.”
Springer’s missed layup was an encore of the final seconds against Dodge City last week, when he watched his potential game-winning layup fall off the rim at the Civic Center. The sophomore finished with 11 points; his only bucket in the second-half was the 3-pointer in crunch time.
Antorian Moore, who hit his first four shots of the game before missing his final two, netted 13 points. Anderson chipped in 12 and three rebounds for Garden City.
Despite missing 13 shots, Bashier Ahmed recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Freeman recorded his 11th double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Budke, whose emphatic dunk and subsequent 3-point play in the final minute gave his team a four-point lead, tallied 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Tip ins: There were two lead changes and one tie…Garden City’s largest lead was two; Hutch’s was 14…Hutchinson won their eighth straight postseason game over Garden City (the last Buster victory came back in 1964)…Hutchinson improved to 11-3 all-time vs. Garden City in Region VI play…The Blue Dragons won their eighth straight opening-round game at the Sports Arena…Garden City hasn’t won a postseason game since 2011 and hasn’t won at the Sports Arena since February 6, 2010…Garden City shot 53 percent in the second half on 17-of-32 from the floor compared to just 9-of-31 (29 percent) in the first…Brady Trenkle’s Busters fell to 1-4 against Hutchinson
