Buffs’ boys lasso Liberal, 64-43
Story Credit: GCHS Athletics
[SOUNDCLOUD PLAYER]
If there was one goal in mind for the Garden City High School boys’ basketball team when they hosted Liberal’s Redskins Tuesday night at The Garden, it was to not let the visitors hang around and make the game close.
Consider the goal accomplished in spades as the Buffs roared out of the locker room at the start and never looked back in a 64-43 romp over their Western Athletic Conference opponent.
The victory squared the Buffs’ season record to 11-11 and also their WAC record at 4-4, putting them in third place in the WAC standings behind Hays and Great Bend. Liberal, meanwhile, dropped to 2-19 overall and 0-7 in the WAC. The Redskins close out their season Thursday at Dodge City.
The Buffs will travel to Wichita on Friday for a rearranged game that was not on the original schedule to play Southeast’s Golden Buffaloes at approximately 6:45 p.m. The game was added when the Buffs missed playing their third and final game at the January Jam in Valley Center last month. The GCHS girls already had the Southeast game on their schedule, so it will be a non-conference doubleheader (girls tip-off at 5 p.m.).
Senior Daniel Monarrez, as he has often done this season, got the Buffs rolling with a pair of 3-point buckets to go along with a layup by Jalen Jagels and a traditional 3-point play from Drew Strecker as the Buffs took off to an 11-0 early advantage.
By the time the first eight minutes ended, the Buffs were up 15-4 and then it got worse for the Redskins. After two early free throws by Liberal to begin the second, the Buffs went on a 15-0 run and 19-6 overall to zoom into halftime up by 24, 34-10.
“I thought our defense was really ready to go early,” head coach Luke Swedberg said. “We made them take a lot of good shots because they have a good offensive team with good shooters.”
When the Buffs scored the opening six points of the third period, they were up only to realize the running clock doesn’t kick in until the fourth quarter. That 40-10 spread was the largest of the game, with Garden leading 46-21 after three periods.
With just more than two minutes left in the game, the Buffs were back up by 29, 59-30, and only a 10-3 Liberal run at the end got the final to the 21-point differential.
Liberal’s James Fieser, a 6-3 senior forward, scored 18 points for the Redskins to lead all scorers, with 16 of those coming in the final 16 minutes.
The Buffs had a balanced scoring attack with Jalen Jagels and Monarrez sharing the top spot with 14 points each. Mackoy Hemmert was right behind with 13. In all, nine players scored.
“I thought our offense settled down later in the game while we were a little antsy at the start,” Swedberg said. “We did a much better job on the boards and we needed to find a way to keep them off the glass because they’re very active and I thought we did a good job to limit that tonight.”
The Buffs hit 43.1 percent from the field (28-of-65), but were just 5-of-25 from 3-point range (20 percent). Liberal was cold at 32.7 percent (15-of-55) and 6-of-28 from behind the arc (21.4 percent). The Buffs dominated the rebounding with a 44-29 advantage as Jalen Jagels had 12 for a double-double. Fieser led Liberal with 9 rebounds. Both teams were about even on assists/turnovers with each getting seven assists while the Buffs had 14 turnovers to 15 for the Redskins.
After Friday’s regular season finale at Southeast, the Buffs will await their Class 6A sub-state assignment. The sub-state semifinals will be played March 4 at the team with the better record. After Tuesday, the Buffs were sitting in the No. 10 spot for the West sub-state pairings and Topeka-Washburn Rural was in the No. 7 position.
————
Western Athletic Conference
Game #8
Tuesday, Feb. 24
At The Garden
GARDEN CITY 64, LIBERAL 43
Liberal (43) — Olvera 1 0-0 3, Fieser 6 3-6 18, Hernandez 2 0-0 5, Cardenas 2 1-2 6, Diego 1 0-0 2, Castillo 1 1-2 3, Moreno 2 2-2 6. Totals 15 7-12 43.
Garden City (64) — Rosales 2 0-0 4, Morales 2 0-0 4, Chairez 2 0-0 5, Monarrez 5 2-2 14, Longa 1 0-0 3, B. Jagels 1 0-0 2, J. Jagels 7 0-0 14, Hemmert 6 0-0 13, Strecker 2 1-3 5. Totals 28 3-5 64.
Liberal (2-19, 0-7)…4…6…11…22…–…43
Garden City (11-11, 4-4)…15…19…12…18…–…64
3-point goals—Liberal 6 (Olvera 1, Fieser 3, Hernadez 1, Cardenas 1); Garden City 5 (Chairez 1,Monarrez 2, Longa 1, Hemmert 1). Fouls—Liberal 7; Garden City 13. Fouled Out–None.
