Broncbusters roll to opening-night win

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-If one game is any indication, fans will love Bill Morosco's brand of basketball. Unselfish, ball movement, and cutting; it's the basis of the veteran coach's arsenal. And it was on full display Monday night.

June Lewis led seven double figure scorers with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, Heru Bligen tallied 19 and nine boards, and Garden City rolled Bethany, 123-48 on opening night at Conestoga Arena.

"Games like this are necessary because you have to get those first-game jitters out of the way," Morosco said afterwards. "I would say the first eight minutes of the first half weren't our best, but we figured some things out."

The offense took a little time to get going, but the defense was stellar all night, limiting the Swedes to just 27 percent shooting and 2-of-16 on 3's. They outrebounded Bethany 55-19 and scored 31 points off 25 turnovers.

"We got after them; so, I was pretty pleased with how we played defensively," Morosco added.

Garden City trailed for all of 30 seconds in this one. Mohamed Diarra, the highly touted second-year post player, made a couple of driving layups, Bligen got to the basket for two, and Zac Taylor canned an open 3 from the corner to put the home team up, 20-12. Moments later, Taylor beat two defenders to the rim, Josh Nwankwo and Marko Dosen drilled back-to-back triples, and the Broncbusters' lead ballooned to 19 on the heels of a 31-11 surge.

"We got things going, but we can't turn the ball over like we did tonight if we want to have a chance against Lamar on Wednesday," Morosco said. "We just have to carry what we did in the second half into our next game."

Garden City took their first 20-point lead on Micah Octave's layup with 4:15 left in the opening period; were up 24 at the half; then built a 30-point cushion on Nwankwo's long trey that made it 63-30 three minutes into the second half. So, how good were the Broncbusters in that final period? They shot 63 percent from the floor, made 17-of-20 free throws, and outscored Bethany 71-20 over the final 20 minutes.

Nwankwo finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in 26 minutes for Garden City, which fell one point shy of tying the school record for most points in game (124 vs. New Mexico on Nov. 11, 1989). Diarra posted 17 points and eight boards, Tone Hunter added 10, and Octave chipped in 10 and seven rebounds.

Next up: Garden City vs. Lamar-Wednesday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.