Garden City goes cold in third; loses to Colby

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-In just two seasons on the job, Antwain Scales has taken Colby from the doormats of the Jayhawk Conference to respectability. And Wednesday night was another step in their climb out of the cellar.

Nyrobi Pillers scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds, Afiya Vincent had 14 points and nine boards, and the Trojans completed a season sweep of Garden City with an 81-64 victory at Conestoga Arena.

"We just came out flat," Interim Head Coach Mike "Scoop" Harding said afterwards. "Our intensity was nowhere near what it needed to be."

The Trojans will finish with a winning record this season for the first time since 2006. They also have nine conference wins, their most in nearly two decades. Meantime the Broncbusters saw their season-best three-game winning streak snapped.

"Everything tonight was a result of poor execution on offense," Harding said. "We were using one pass to get one shot. That's not our formula."

From the jump, Garden City seemed out of sync. They fell behind 10-2 and misfired on seven of their first 10 shots. They also turned it over seven times in the first 10 minutes.

"We were trying to take them off the dribble when they collapsed on us," Harding said. "That just doesn't work. And that's not what we do."

The Broncbusters did show some signs of life in the opening period. Dasja Ross's 3-pointer from the top of the key capped a 7-0 run that had Garden City within one. Alyssa Boyce then dropped in two free throws, Donetria McGee blew right past Pillers for a two-handed layup, and the Broncbusters had their only lead of the night, 13-12 with 50 seconds remaining. But Alize Ruiz, who scored 11 points in the first half the last time these two teams met, got to the rim for 2, and Aerihna Afoa drilled a 3 to put Colby up four after one.  

"I thought we did a good job of forcing turnovers again," Harding said. "We just didn't take advantage by scoring points off of them."

Midway through the second, Harding's team was staring up at a nine-point deficit once Estrella Avalos knocked down a 10-footer from the baseline. The Broncbusters managed to cut that to five at the intermission.

But the third quarter was telling.

Colby came out on fire, hitting 11-of-15 shots from the field (73 percent). On the other hand, the Broncbusters were flat again, going 5-of-15. They were 2-of-9 on shots inside the arc during that 10-minute stretch.

"I thought our intensity level dropped again when we started the second half," Harding said.

Colby had a lot do with that.

Despite Ariyanna Hall's back-to-back 3's that had Garden City down only three with 7:00 to go in the period, the Trojans couldn't miss. Kiara Knight swished her only field goal of the night: a 3 from the right wing, Pillers wheeled inside against two defenders for 2, and Afoa canned her second triple, to give Colby a 55-44 advantage. Ruiz followed with two free throws, Afoa hit another long ball, and Knight rattled in two freebies, polishing off a 20-5 run that had the road squad up 66-48 going to the fourth. They pushed it to 19 early in the final frame.

"We stopped guarding in the third quarter," Harding said. "When we pressured the wings, we made it difficult for them to feed the post. But we didn't do that in the third quarter. We didn't get our hands up."

The Trojans absolutely punished Garden City inside, outscoring them 48-24 in the paint. They outrebounded them 42-23.

"We didn't pressure them enough," Harding said. "We just were consistent."

Still, Garden City was right there with 7:03 to play. After deploying a full-court press, the Broncbusters scored 10 straight points to pull to within nine, 68-59. But after a timeout, Colby responded with a 6-0 run, and the lead never dipped under 10 the rest of the way.

The Trojans, one of the top free throw shooting teams in the country, finished 15-of-16 at the line (94 percent). Afoa scored 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, and Knight dished out a team-best four assists.

McGee paced Garden City with 14 points, and Hall added 14 in 26 minutes off the bench. Ross had 11 points two assists and three steals. But Jaleah Bellany, who sored 26 on Saturday vs. Dodge City, tallied just four points on 1-of-5 shooting.

"I thought Jaleah was stuck in sand most of the night," Harding said.

Next up: Garden City at Barton-Saturday, Feb. 22-5:15 p.m. pregame; 5:30 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app