Broncbusters' season ends in Region VI Quarterfinal Loss at Coffeyville

Coffeyville, KS-This was a revenge game from the jump. 

Brian Griffith scored 18 points, Daniel Ntambwe finished with 12 points and 10 boards, and No. 21 Coffeyville beat Garden City, 80-67 in the Region VI Quarterfinals Tuesday night at Nellis Hall. The Red Ravens improved to 23-8 and advanced to play Barton in the semifinals at Fort Hays State on Friday night. 

Garden City, which just a month earlier knocked off the Red Ravens with a 93-79 victory on Feb. 8, ended their season at 18-14 overall. Emmanual Manyuon scored 22 points, and Antonio Chol had 16 on 6-of-11 shooting, Caleb Smith chipped in 14 in 32 minutes off the bench. 

The Red Ravens, which improved to 13-4 at home and won for the sixth time in their last seven games, fed off their raucous crowd. They raced out to a 7-0 lead and took their first double-digit advantage when Trenton Ruth drilled a 3 from the wing to make it 25-14 with 6:24 left in the half. Charles Caporaso hit two free throws, and Griffith, who beat the Broncbusters off the dribble all night, slashed into the paint for an and-1 layup, and Coffeyville was up by 16. Justin Taylor's midrange jumper with 30 seconds on the clock gave the home team a 40-22 halftime advantage. 

In the second half, Garden City dug themselves into too deep a hole. 

Konstantin Popovic connected on a 17-footer, Kuta and Taylor knocked down free throws, and the Red Ravens had their largest lead of the night, 54-32 with 13:12 left. 

But give Isaiah Tisdale's team credit for making things somewhat interesting down the stretch. Josiah Sabino rattled home an off-balance 3-pointer, Manyuon hit from deep, and the Broncbusters pulled to within nine, 74-65 with 2:48 to go. But Garden City scored just two points the rest of the way. Kuta answered with a tear drop in the paint, Ntambwe and Griffith combined to hit four free throws, and the Red Ravens moved one step closer to a 17^th region crown. 

The big story in this one was Coffeyville's decisive advantage on the glass as the Red Ravens outrebounded the Broncbusters, 43-22. They had 15 offensive boards that led to 17 second-chance points.