Buffs hold off furious Colby rally, survive 71-65
Story Credit: Brett Marshall/GCHS Athletics
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If a basketball fan is faint of heart, then it can only make sense that no lead is safe when the Garden City Buffaloes’ boys’ team is behind, or when the same Buffs’ team is ahead in the second half of a game.
That was never more evident than at Tuesday night’s non-conference game against Colby’s Eagles at The Garden as the Buffs seemingly had the game in hand with a 54-36 lead with 6:05 left in the game only to survive a furious rally by the road team to finish with a 71-65 triumph.
The Buffs improved their season record to 8-7 while Colby fell to 8-5.
“I wouldn’t suggest somebody with heart issues to watch us play at times,” head coach Luke Swedberg said afterward. “I’m not sure what it’s like to go to an amusement park, but I”m sure there are roller-coasters there and that would be us.”
Somehow, the Buffaloes survived the two-headed scoring binge by a pair of Eagle seniors.
There was no surprise that 6-1 guard/forward Jordan Jones was going to big a big threat, having already scored 40, 51 and 42 points in January games to put him over the 1,000-point plateau for his career.
Jones did his best imitation, scoring 23 points but it was his 6-foot-6-inch post partner, Josiah Hoppe, who proved equal to his teammate, dumping in 27 points as the pair combined for 50 of the Eagles’ 65 points. Nathan Cates added 11 to make it 61 of the team’s 65 total.
“Colby’s got a really, really good team, so at the end of the day, we got a good win and I’m proud of the boys for staying the course,” Swedberg said. “The game is hard. It’s hard to play. It’s hard to coach, but we were able to come up with big plays by a number of players to get the W.”
In a relatively modest start to the game, the Buffs finished the first quarter with a 10-8 lead before exploding for 24 points in the second, doubling up the Eagles’ 12, to go in at intermission up by 14, 34-20.
Colby, though, must have had a good halftime talk as the Eagles came out and won the third quarter, 14-9, to make it 43-34 going to the fourth, a margin of 9 and well within the range of the Eagles.
With several of the Buffs sitting on the bench in foul trouble, junior reserve Braylon Walker hit a big traditional three-point lay and then Jaden Jagels scored five straight points and it was 51-34 with just under six and a half minutes on the clock.
Colby, though, had other ideas and yet when it was 55-38 with 5:21 remaining, most people thought the win was in the book. At that point, the Eagles went on a l2-0 run over the next two minutes to pull within five, 55-50, with 3:30 showing.
The way the Buffs closed out the victory was also a bit of mystery as they did it by knocking down 11-of-12 free throws over the final 3:30 to ice it away.
“I know it sounds pretty much off, but I’m happy that we held Jones to 23,” Swedberg said. “He’s been on quite a run, so I’m glad that we didn’t let others find a way to beat us. The Hoppe kid is a good player, too. It’s a good win for us.”
Seniors Daniel Monarrez and Jalen Jagels led the Buffs’ scoring with 20 and 17 points, respectively. Jagels’ younger brother, Braden, added 14 points.
“We had a lot of different guys step up at important times,” Swedberg said. “We definitely had one of our best free throw shooting games of the year (18-of-22).
Colby had been 7-2 before hosting their own Orange and Black tournament last week where they finished 1-2 in a tough field.
The Buffs will not be back on the court until Feb. 3 when they travel east to face rival Dodge City in the fourth Western Athletic Conference game of the double round-robin campaign. They are currently 1-2 in the WAC, with a win over Liberal and home losses to Great Bend and Hays.
They will continue their road schedule on Feb. 7 at Shawnee Mission North and Great Bend on Feb. 13 before returning home on Saturday, Feb. 14 against Woodward, Okla.
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BOYS
Tuesday, Jan. 27
At The Garden
GARDEN CITY 71, COLBY 65
Colby (65) — Cates 5 1-4 11, Youngman 0 0-2 0, Wright 2 0-0 4, Hoppe 10 7-12 27, Jones 10 3-3 23. Totals 27 11-21 65.
Garden City (71) — Rosales 1 1-2 3, Walter 1 2-4 4, Monarrez 5 8-8 20, B. Jagels 5 2-3 14, Walker 2 1-1 6, J. Jagels 8 1-1 17, Strecker 2 3-3 7. Totals 24 18-22 71.
Colby (8-5)…8…12…14…31…–…65
Garden City (8-7)…10…24…9…28…–…71
3-point goals—Colby: 0. Garden City: 5 (Monarrez 2, B. Jagels 2, Walker 1). Fouls—Colby: 19; Garden City: 22. Fouled out–Garden City (J. Jagels).
