Garden City falls in Concordia

Concordia, KS-Abdoulaye Fall had 17 points, Cheikh Sow and Isaiah Sy each scored 15, and Cloud County beat Garden City, 66-54 Wednesday night at Arley Bryant Gymnasium. 

Ja'Ron Briggs chipped in 13 points and five rebounds in 39 minutes for the Thunderbirds, which improved to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in Jayhawk Conference play. 

Brody Robinson scored 22 points and was 7-of-14 from the field for Garden City, but the rest of the team combined to go just 12-of-34 (36 percent). Braxton Jones had 13, and Thomas Tut tallied seven points and nine rebounds. 

The Broncbusters offensive woes were masked early on thanks to Robinson, who drained a pair of 3-pointers to begin the game. In fact, the sophomore guard scored the first 11 points of the contest for Rusty Elmore's bunch, nailing another triple with 13 minutes to go in the first half to give Garden City a three-point edge. They were up eight after Thomas Tut's coast-to-coast and-1 layup that made it 21-13 with 6:27 remaining.  

But the visitors managed just one field goal the rest of the half (a Braxton Jones midrange jumper) as the Thunderbirds closed on a 10-2 run to tie the game at the intermission. 

Garden City (6-3, 3-1) held a four-point edge in the early stages of the second half after Charles Chukwu tipped in Jordan Frazier's missed layup. But Fall answered with two free throws, and Isaiah Sy drilled a 3-pointer to put Cloud County on top, 35-34. 

The Broncbusters never led after that. 

Frazier's 16-foot jumper with 7:37 to play pulled Garden City to within two. But the Broncbusters went scoreless over the next three minutes as Cloud County opened their biggest lead following Briggs' running layup that put the Thunderbirds up, 60-49. 

Garden City, which shot just 39 percent from the field, managed just seven assists. They outrebounded Cloud 40-27 but turned the ball over 17 times leading to 22 Cloud County points. 

The Thunderbirds won the game despite shooting just 36 percent from the floor. But they made up for it at the line, draining 22-of-29 free throws. They also outscored Garden City, 26-18 in the paint.