Broncbusters Record Statement Victory Against Cloud County

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – Adversity is a constant in athletics. Teams have to fight over walls and struggles throughout their seasons.

Saturday showed that the high-scoring, flashy, Broncbusters could also dig deep, defend well, and reinvent themselves to find wins, in any way necessary.

The Garden City Broncbusters defended home court, recording one of their biggest wins of the season over the Cloud County Thunderbirds, 73-65, at Conestoga Arena. The Broncbusters moved into fifth place in the conference with the win, recording their first win over a top five opponent in the conference this season.

“The first time we played [this slate], we started out 0-1,” guard Brody Robinson said. “It feels good to start 1-0 in this hard three-game stretch.”

The Broncbusters will face Cowley and Butler next week, two teams ranked in the most recent NJCAA Top 25 polls.

The adversity for Garden City (14-7, 10-5 KJCCC) came early. The Broncbusters opened shooting just one of their first 11 from three. 

Early turnovers led to a 17-4 Cloud County advantage.

Elijah Roberts brought the Broncbusters back into it, swishing two three pointers off the bench. The freshmen led all scorers with nine first half points.

“We settled in. That defense they plays really messes with you,” head coach Rusty Elmore said. “I thought we got good shots in the first half, we just couldn’t hit them.”

Cloud County (15-6. 11-4) spread the wealth in the first half, with eight different Thunderbirds scoring. They switched leading scorers four times in the second half.

Braxton Jones caught fire out of halftime, hitting three triples in the first four minutes of the second half. The Broncbusters started the second half hitting four of their first five attempts from distance.

What really turned the game around was the team’s defense. Garden City forced 10 Cloud County turnovers in the second half, holding the T-Birds to 3-of-10 from three.

“Our big focus was to take away their back cuts, I don’t think they got one of those all day,” Elmore said. “That’s the best game, defensively, we’ve played in a minute.”

Saturday was fewest points Garden City had given up to a team since November 18th’s win over Colby.

Robinson turned it on in the second half. Robinson, who was two-of-six from the floor at halftime, would score 15 points in his final 18 minutes. 

Robinson excelled at moving the basketball around in the final moments of the game. His setups to forwards Charles Chukwu and Thomas Tut set up and-ones, igniting the Conestoga Arena Crowd.

“It felt like I needed to do whatever my team needed me to do to get this win,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t just me, it was the whole team that stepped up… top to bottom, people played great.”

Robinson finished with 21 points and 10 assists, his ninth double-double of the season.

Garden City takes on Cowley on Wednesday in a top five faceoff in the KJCCC. Coverage can be found on 99.9 ‘The Rock’ immediately following women’s basketball at 5:30 P.M.