Saints Barely by the Busters

LIBERAL, Kan. – It didn’t come easy, but the No. 17 Seward County men’s basketball team picked up a sweep against their rival from the north, defeating the Garden City Broncbusters 75-74 in the final minutes of Wednesday’s game.

After starting out hot, hitting their first two shots of the game to make it 6-0, Seward found it hard to find the basket, going on a five-minute scoring drought as the Broncbusters took went on a 11-0 run. Over the first ten minutes of action, Seward scored just 11 points as the they trailed 20-11 at the media timeout.

The situation only worsened coming out of the break, with the Broncbusters taking an 11-point lead after Jamir Thomas made two free throws with eight and a half minutes left in the half. After falling being 25-13, Seward went on a 10- run to make it 25-23 with just over three minutes left in the half, but the Broncbusters had an answer, keeping the Saints from taking the lead. Garden City held on to a 34-30 lead at halftime.

Seward stayed with the Broncbusters to start the second half and used a 5-0 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game at the 15:34 mark in the second half with a Marco Morency pull up jumper. The lead didn’t last though, as Garden went on a run to open up a seven-point lead at the final media break, 55-48.

Coming out of the media break, Seward used an instrumental 13-4 run to take a two-point lead. The Broncbusters refused to go away quietly, retaking a one-point lead with five minutes to play. Seward tied the game with a Reggie Miller free throw with three minutes left, eventually using an 8-0 run to take a six-point lead. After Morency hit a free throw to make it 75-71, Jakobi Pearson drilled a three with three second left to make it a one-point game. The Saints found a wide-open Reggie Miller to run out the clock and give Seward the one-point victory.

Seward shot 40.3 percent (25-for-62) from the floor, but just 19 percent (4-for-21) from behind the arc. The Broncbusters shot 42.4 percent (28-for-66) from the field and 28.6 percent (6-for-21) from deep. The Saints outshot Garden from the charity stripe 34 to 19, while connecting on 21 of the free throws.

Four Saints scored in double-figures, led by Reggie Miller’s 18 points, including going 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. Marco Morency (15 pts), Isiah Small (13 pts) and Montrevion Flowers (10 pts) joined Miller in double-figures. Morency also came away with 12 rebounds to complete his first career double-double.

Seward will be back in the Greenhouse on Saturday (Feb. 9) when they host Pratt at 8:00 p.m. for Homecoming. Pizza Hut will be the sponsor and free tickets can be picked up at Pizza Hut locations.