No 5 Garden City Ends Dodge City Season and Advances to State Tournament
Garden City, KS (www.westernkansasnews.com) – Third time is a charm for the Garden City Buffaloes as they beat their arch rival Dodge City 40-37 in the Sub-State finals last Friday night at the “Garden”, to advance to the 6A State Basketball Tournament this week at Koch Arena at Wichita State University. It was a classic match-up between the two old rivals and a packed house as well at the “Garden”, with the electric atmosphere carrying over to the game as the two teams went after the victory with a passion, Dodge city had beaten the Buffaloes twice on the season by 15 points each time. The Garden City Buffaloes prevailed by playing a hard nose intensified man to man defense and shutting down the Red Demons top point producers in Matt Goedeken with only 4 points and Jace Larson ended the night with just 10. Garden City jumped out to a 10 point lead mid-way through the 2nd period, but saw that dwindle to a four point lead at the break 19-15.
The 2nd half was even more intense as both teams would make mini runs, but Garden City held the lead for nearly the entire game, except for a brief moment in the 3rd period when Dodge City would take a one point advantage at 28-27, but the Buffaloes responded to grap the lead right back on the next possession. The Buffaloes were led in scoring by senior Bo Banner with 16 points and junior Hunter Delgado dropped in 10, plus he hit two big treys in the second half and was a perfect 4-4 at the charity stripe. The game came down to hitting free throws and making defensive stops as the final play at buzzer include a blocked shot by Evan Riggs and a lose ball rebound by Austin Terpstra to make the final score 40-37. This was a huge win for the Buffaloes and sends them to the 6A State Tournament in Wichita at Koch Arena for their first round game with Derby at 4:45 Wednesday. Be sure to catch all the great action on your voice of the Buffs 99.9 KWKR, starting with the 4:15 pre-game show. The Video production for the State Tournament is produced by the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
