Manyuon vanquishes former team; Broncbusters win fourth straight

Concordia, KS-More than a year after transferring from Cloud County, Emmanuel Manyuon had Thursday night circled on his calendar. 

In his return to Concordia, the sophomore scored 22 points in 36 minutes, Antonio Chol posted his seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards, and Garden City won its fourth straight with a 70-65 victory over the Thunderbirds at Arley Bryant Gymnasium.  

Josiah Sabino, who returned from a two-game suspension, finished with 14 points including the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:26 to go for Garden City, which improved to 15-10 overall and 10-10 in conference. The Broncbusters are now just a game back of Colby for sixth in the standings. 

Elidjah Savane scored 17 for Cloud County, which lost its third straight game to drop to 11-16 overall and 5-16 in the Jayhawk. Keyon Garret-Miller chipped in 14. 

In their last three games, Garden City is allowing just 72 points per game, nearly 10 points less than their season average. On Wednesday, they limited the Thunderbirds to 65 on 39 percent shooting and 6-of-24 (25 percent) from long range. 

Caleb smith's jump shot with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter gave Garden City its' largest lead of the night, 23-13. They were up eight at the half. 

Though they never trailed, the Broncbusters failed to pull away over the final 20 minutes, and Matthew Garber's triple pulled Cloud County to within one, 31-30 with 18:23 left.  

Jace Steinmetz answered on the other end with a layup, and Manyuon drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The next time down, Chol rose up over Savane for a smooth 17-footer, and the Broncbusters had an eight-point cushion. They led by as many as nine in the second half.  

But the Thunderbirds responded with a 16-7 spurt polished off by Fallou Koite's long 3-pointer that evened the game at 58 with 1:44 remaining. 

On Garden City's ensuing possession, Sabino buried a triple; then followed with two free throws, Chol went 2-for-2 at the line, and the Broncbusters closed out their fifth road win of the season.  

Garden City outrebounded Cloud County, 40-39 and scored 16 points off 15 Thunderbird turnovers.