Garden City hammers Indy for first conference win

Garden City, KS-DaJion Humphrey and Jaborri McGhee combined for 40 points, Buru Naivalurua posted a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Garden City raced past Independence, 90-71 Saturday afternoon at Conestoga Arena. It was the Broncbusters second straight win, improving their record to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the Jayhawk Conference. 

"I am pleased to finally get a win in conference," Head Coach, Rusty Elmore said afterwards."

Garden City led wire to wire, building a 27-point cushion early in the second half after Humphrey canned a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 59-32. The Broncbusters shot 55 percent from the floor, were 8-of-20 from beyond the arc, and dished out 23 assists. They also outrebounded the Pirates, 34-23. 

"We still have to get better, and we need to learn to keep our composure," Elmore added. "But I really like what we did in the first half. We gave ourselves enough of a cushion."

Humphrey made a jump shot, Larry Olayinka, who made his first start of the season, fed McGhee for a layup, Naivalurua found Central Michigan transfer, Aundre Polk for a two-handed slam, and the Broncbusters were off to the races, utilizing a 12-0 run to open a 16-4 advantage five minutes into the contest. They pushed it to 18 following an Olayinka dunk and a McGhee triple. 

"Our goal was to keep Johan Nziemi in check," Elmore said. "He's a good player, and he is going to give a lot of teams in this league problems."

The sophomore forward was limited to just seven points in 30 minutes, seeing an array of defenses that held the reigning conference player of the week to just 2-of-7 from the field. 

"We did a good job on him (Nziemi), but we have to be better over 40 minutes," Elmore explained. 

Garden City led by as many as 24 in the first half following a sensational big-to-big pass from Naivalurua to Olayinka, who finished at the rim with two hands to make it 37-13. The Broncbusters were up by 16 at the break. 

"This one is over, and now we flip the page to a really good Colby team on Wednesday," Elmore said. 

The Broncbusters never let the advantage slip under double digits with Independence only getting as close as 14 in the second half. 

Humphrey added seven rebounds in 40 minutes for Garden City. McGhee was 8-of-12 from the floor with nine assists, and David Elliott scored 14 in 29 minutes off the bench. 

Kam Parker was the lone Pirate in double figures with 23 points.