Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – A familiar foe faced off with the Seward County Saints men’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon as long-time conference rival Dodge City tipped off with SCCC and although the Saints were able to remain close throughout a majority of the contest, the Conquistadors handed Seward County their sixth straight loss as the Saints fell 89-78. DC3 has won seven in a row over the Saints.
The first four minutes of the game were low scoring for both teams as Mathias M’Madi slashed down the lane for a layup that put SCCC in front 5-3 before the first media timeout and the France native later found Carson Bennett open in the corner for a knockdown three to keep their lead alive at 14-13. Back-to-back threes from the Hugoton natives in Bennett and Ryle Riddlespurger allowed the Saints to grow the score to 20-17 but were unable to prevent Dodge City from going on an 18-7 run to move in front 35-27 before M’Madi was able to find his way once again to the hoop for a score but couldn’t help Seward County get any closer as the first half ended with the Conqs up 43-36.
SCCC managed to keep within reach of Dodge City to open the second half as M’Madi continued to help contribute to the Saints offense with his passing game, finding Lovasoa Andriatsarafara with a no-look pass that led to an easy two and cut the score to 50-42 and a big putback score by Big Lova a few minutes later helped bring it down to three. Seward County’s offense was able to help spark a comeback but the Conqs answered with authority in the form of a 22-6 run to put them out of reach at 76-60 and despite M’Madi scoring seven straight points for the Saints with under 4:00 minutes remaining, it was not enough as Dodge City took the win 89-78 over SCCC.
M’Madi finished the night with his second highest total this season with 25 points on 8-10 shooting and made 9-10 from the charity stripe. The Hugoton duo of Riddlespurger and Bennett each reached the double figures mark as well with 11 and 10 respectively, combining for all of the Saints made three-pointers.
After falling for the sixth straight game, Seward County now sits at 3-11 on the 2023-24 season and plumet to 1-7 in conference action. They will now look towards Wednesday when they matchup with the nationally ranked Blue Dragons of Hutchinson on the road with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 PM. It airs on 107.5.
