Garden City goes cold from long range; falls in Goodland

Goodland, KS-Garden City couldn't buy a basket from deep.  

The Broncbusters finished a season-worst 2-of-24 from 3, Taiden Conner and Emarquis Jones combined for 38 points, and Northwest Tech beat the Broncbusters, 88-82 Wednesday night at Max Jones Fieldhouse. The loss dropped Garden City to 15-10 overall and 11-8 in the Jayhawk. It also cemented the team's first three-game losing streak of the season. 

Brody Robinson led the Broncbusters with 35 points, setting a new school record with 21 made free throws. He eclipsed the previous mark set by Tahlik Chavez in 2020. Thomas Tut had 17 points and seven rebounds, and Charles Chukwu finished with 10 points and eight boards.  

Garden City led only twice in this game, the last time coming with 14:30 remaining in the first half when Chukwu slipped inside for a layup to make it 11-10. But Jones answered with a pair of free throws on the other end, Keither Florence rattled the rim with a two-handed jam following Braxton Jones' long three-point miss, and the Mavericks never trailed again. Florence added a three-point play later in the period that gave the home team a 26-15 advantage with 8:49 remaining.  

Anthony Verge added a transition layup, and Jones buried a 27-footer to give Northwest Tech their largest advantage of the first half, 40-24 with 3:13 to go. They were up 11 going into the locker room.  

Garden City, which finished 1-of-11 from 3 over the first 20 minutes, bricked 13 of their final 14 shots from deep. Still, they gave themselves a chance when Robinson converted back-to-back layups to pull the Broncbusters to within two, 75-73 with 2:43 to play. But Robinson fouled Conner, who followed with two free throws, Keyishon Miller cashed in Jones' missed triple and turned it into a layup, and Northwest Tech was back up by six.  

The Broncbusters had another chance after Chukwu's two-handed slam made it a one-possession contest with less than a minute remaining. But with the shot clock winding down for the Mavericks, Williams found a path to the rim for two, all but putting the game away.   

Charles Fofanah scored 13 points, and Florence had 12 for the Northwest Tech, which moved to 10-14 overall and 6-12 in the conference. Williams added 11 in 16 minutes off the bench.