Colby muscles past Garden City

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Tahlik Chavez was coming off the game of his life, scoring 34 of his career-best 42 points in the second half vs. Dodge City. So the question entering Wednesday night was this: what would he do for an encore against the second best defense in the league? Unfortunately for the freshman guard, it was an off night, and the Trojan defense had a lot do with that.

Alexandre Fanchini scored 22 points, Demarcus Sharp dropped 21, dished out five assists and had two steals, and No. 16 Colby surged to an 86-75 win over Garden City at Conestoga Arena.

"That Colby team is very good," Broncbusters Head Coach Patrick Nee said. "Everyone knows their role, and they do it so well."

The most impressive thing Colby did all night was shutdown Garden City's main offensive weapon. Chavez was constantly harassed, as the Trojans did the exact opposite of what most teams have tried against one of the best shooters in the country. They went over screens, hedged and doubled, leaving Chavez frustrated. And by night's end, the man who Dodge City had no answer for on Saturday, scored just 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting. He was 1-of-7 from 3.

"They (Colby) did a good job frustrating Tahlik," Nee said. "That made him rush a few of his shots. So give them a lot of credit."

By taking away Chavez, the Trojans sprinted to their 10^th straight victory. And with Cowley's loss at Butler, Colby now owns the No. 1 overall seed in the Region with one game to play.

"That's a team that could make some serious noise in the NJCAA Tournament," Nee explained. "They're solid."

But in the first half, Garden City stayed right with them. After an 11-2 run was punctuated by a Domonic Harvey layup that put Colby up 17-9, Mason Osborne got loose. He hit a layup on a backdoor cut; then nailed a 3 in the corner on a beautiful find by Chavez. Steven Samuels followed with a layup and a dunk, and the Broncbusters were up 18-17 with 8:52 remaining. But they squandered several chances to stretch the lead; mainly because their defense, one that surrendered nine triples to one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league.

"I just don't think we are consistent enough," Nee said. "That's been our problem all year."

And even on a night where Traylynn Spencer showed out, scoring 13 of his team-best 25 points in the first half, the Broncbusters still trailed by three at the break. They were down one early in the second half before Colby hit them with a massive right cross.

Sharp drilled a trey, Matt Mcfarlane got inside for a deuce; then completed a three-point play, Fanchini swished a pair of triples, and the Trojans blew the game open with a 19-2 run that had them in front 58-40. They built that lead to as many as 19 after Fanchini hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it 61-42 with 12:57 to go.

"We put them on the line way too much in the second half," Nee said. "I thought we held them down, for the most part, in the first half. But the second half is when they got loose."

With it looking like another Colby blowout, the Broncbusters managed to make things interesting late. Chavez finally hit a 3, Spencer rattled the rim with an emphatic two-handed jam where he slipped by Fanchini, and Chavez banked home a spectacular reverse layup to pull Garden City to within eight, 75-67 with 4:00 remaining. But after Trojans' Coach Rusty Elmore called a timeout, the Broncbusters went into a 1-3-1 zone, completely blowing a defensive rotation that left Fanchini wide open in the right corner for a backbreaking 3. On their next trip down, Mcfarlane finished off a three-point play before Sharp beat two defenders to the rim, pushing Colby's lead back to 13.

Mcfarlane notched his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 boards for the Trojans, who improved to 25-4, their best start in school history. Harvey scored 12 points in 24 productive minutes off the bench.

Samuels and Michael Frazier each chipped in 10 for Garden City, who lost for the 17^th time in their last 19 games.

Next up: Garden City at Barton-Saturday, Feb. 22-7:30 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app