Garden City loses at Colby

By Mike Pilosof

Colby, KS-Colby has made a legitimate case as the best team in the Jayhawk Conference.

Wednesday night provided more concrete evidence.

Reigning freshman of the year, Eddie Davis, recorded his first double-double of the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds, Domonic Harvey rocked the rim with three momentum-shifting dunks, and the Trojans powered past Garden City 101-76 at the Community Building.

"They've shown that they're the best team in the league," Broncbusters' Head Coach Patrick Nee said afterwards. "They play so well together."

Colby shot lights out; especially over the final 20 minutes, connecting on 22-of-37 (59 percent)) from the field in the second half. The Trojans drilled 11 3's; marking only the third time this year that they've hit 10 or more. They also dished out 21 assists.

"When we can't score, it gets into our defense for some reason," Nee added. "We couldn't stop them in the paint, and we couldn't stop them on the 3-point line."

Garden City lost for the 11^th time in their last 12 games while Colby won their 16^th straight contest when leading at the half.

"We have good stretches, and then we have bad ones," Nee explained. "Tonight, we had way too many bad."

Garden City managed to hang with the high-powered Trojans in the first half. Tahlik Chavez buried two free throws after Alexandre Fanchini was whistled for a technical foul, and Garden City was up 15-11 with 14:07 to play. But Colby answered with an avalanche. Demarcus Sharp hit one of his four 3's, Damian Miller splashed one home from deep, and Harvey swished two free throws, sparking a 12-0 run that put the home team on top 29-19. Moments later, Harvey spun baseline before throwing down a two-handed jam in the face of Daishaun Woods. Miller followed with two free throws, and the Trojans had their largest lead of the first half, 41-25 with 3:03 remaining.

"It's not hard to see why they're one of the premier teams in the league," Nee said. "They put it on us tonight pretty good."

The Broncbusters fought their way back at the end of the period. Chavez knocked down a midrange jumper, Steven Samuels completed a three-point play, and Mason Osborne drilled a 3 from the left corner, pulling Garden City to within nine at the break, 41-32.

"Instead of being patient and moving the ball, we did the complete opposite," Nee said. "That's definitely frustrating."

Colby quickly regained their form in the second half.

Leading by eight, the Trojans went on the attack. Sharp found a crease to the rim, Davis converted a second-chance bucket; then lobbed a perfect pass to Harvey, who skied for a two-handed jam, and Miller completed a three-point play, putting Colby up by 14. Fanchini then followed with a 3, Davis finished through contact, and just like that, the lead ballooned to 21, 79-58 with 7:13 to go. It swelled to as many as 27 in the final four minutes.

"When we don't take our time, bad things happen," Nee said. "The next thing you know, there's runouts, and we are trying to call timeouts to try and stop it."

Colby outscored Garden City 60-44 in the second half. Davis scored 15 of his 27 over the final 20 minutes, Sharp finished with 19, Miller added 15 before fouling out, and Fanchini chipped in 10.

Chavez paced the Broncbusters with 20 points in 31 minutes. Kaleb Favors and Traylynn Spencer each had 10, and Michael Frazier scored nine off the bench.

Next up: Garden City vs. Barton-Saturday, Feb. 1-4 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app