Seward’s Season Ends in Garden City

Jay Daubenberger

Seward County men’s basketball saw their season come to an end in Garden City where the Saints fell in the first round of the Region VI Tournament to the Broncbusters where despite a great showing from the freshman trio of Mathias M’Madi, Dave Olaniyi, and Carson Bennett, SCCC was unable to upset the sixth seeded Garden City who grabbed a 78-65 win over the Saints.  It’s their 5th straight Region 6 Tournament loss.

Bennett got the scoring started right off the bat with a big corner three that he quickly followed with a baseline floater to put Seward County in front entering the first media timeout 10-4 over the Broncbusters. M’Madi continued his hot scoring streak with some big-time shots in the first half over their conference rivals to extend their lead to six at 16-10 with twelve minutes to go before Garden City closed the gap to two before a fastbreak layup from Olaniyi helped push it back to five 29-24. Another big time three from Bennett while losing his balance put momentum in Seward County’s favor to make their lead six entering the halftime break against the Broncbusters.

Their lead did not last long in the opening minutes of the second half as Garden City quickly put themselves in front 52-48 midway through the half. Another fastbreak layup by Olaniyi combined with a shifty mid-range jumper by M’Madi helped close the gap back to two at 60-58 but could never recover. A couple of scores from Ryle Riddlespurger and Nathan Jones late in the second half managed to keep the Saints within reach but a late run from the hosting Broncbusters ended the Saints season with a 78-65 in round one of the postseason.

M’Madi led Seward County with 20 points to go with 6 assists while Bennett scored 16 of his own and Olaniyi chipped in 14 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

The Saints end their season with an 8-23 overall record while going 6-18 in the conference against Jayhawk opponents.  It’s Seward’s worst record since 1983 when the Saints were 6-24.