Broncbusters go cold in second half, fall at home to Colby

Garden City, KS-One crucial stretch was the difference on Saturday night.  

Nana Keutcha finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, Eternity Eguagie chipped in 24 points, and Colby outscored Garden City, 57-38 in the second half en route to an 89-78 victory at Conestoga Arena.  

Antonio Chol scored 19 points and Caleb Smith poured in 18 in 29 minutes off the bench for the Broncbusters, which fell to 5-4 overall and 1-3 in the Jayhawk. 

"We shot way too many 3s," Interim Coach, Isaiah Tisdale said afterwards. "We need to get back into the paint and be more physical and tough down low." 

Garden City shot 13-of-40 (33 percent) from beyond the arc, marking the second time this season that they've shot 40 or more in a game (41 vs. North Platte). They were also minus-11 in free throw attempts (16 to 5).  

"I thought we settled a lot in this game," Tisdale added. "When you shoot 40 3s, and the shots aren't going in, that's why we only had five free throw attempts. That's on us." 

Still, Garden City was up as many as 13 early in the second half and held a 64-59 advantage following Smith's layup with 8:16 remaining. But what ensued over the next five minutes was inexplicable. 

Raphael Nagau-Trouart knocked down a 3 and Eguagie made a layup followed by a vicious transition dunk, igniting a 20-0 run that turned a five-point deficit into a 79-64 Colby lead with 3:23 remaining. During that stretch, Garden City went 0-for-5 from the field and turned the ball over four times forcing Tisdale to burn a pair of timeouts that did little to change his team's fortune.  

"We didn't guard the ball, and we didn't score," Tisdale explained. "We've got to do better on both ends. Our offense should not dictate our defense."

Over those crucial final eight minutes, the Broncbusters were outscored 30-14. 

Josiah Sabino finished with 14 points and five rebounds for Garden City, which led by eight at the break and were up 45-32 following Sabino's driving layup 90 seconds into the final period. Jace Steinmetz knocked down three 3s and had 12 points in 14 minutes, and Emmanuel Manyuon chipped in nine points and eight assists. 

Maxence Massadila had 13 points and six assists for Colby, which bounced back after blowing a five-point lead in the final 23 seconds at Hutchinson on Tuesday night to improve to 7-3 overall and 2-2 in league play. Nagau-Trouart scored 10 in 26 minutes.