Hunter drills game winner; Broncbusters down Cloud County

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Tone Hunter more than atoned for his last-second miss vs. Coffeyville earlier this season.

The freshman guard, who finished with a game-high 21 points, drilled the go-ahead jumper with three seconds remaining, and Garden City topped Cloud County, 63-61 Saturday night at Conestoga Arena. The Broncbusters won their second straight game and improved to 10-5 overall and 4-5 in league play.

"I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of Tone," Head Coach, Bill Morosco said afterwards. "He got another chance with the game on the line, and I am so happy it was him."

Hunter had three shots vs. Coffeyville to win it in a two-overtime thriller back on Nov. 20. Unfortunately, he clanged a pair of triples and missed a layup in a two-point loss. This time however, he only needed one chance on Saturday.

Trailing by five with 3:09 left, Hunter zig zagged across the lane and finished with the right hand. After Corey Sawyer answered with a 3-footer on the other end, Jyre McCloud nailed a free throw, and Heru Bligen hit back-to-back layups to tie the game at 61.

"We didn't shoot the ball well, and we did a lot of uncharacteristic things," Morosco added. "But we found a way."

The Thunderbirds had a chance to take the lead with less than 30 seconds on the clock, but Savian Edwards missed a bunny inside. Bligen grabbed the defensive rebound and handed the ball to Hunter.

"Tone definitely paid it back," Morosco explained with a smile.

With time winding down, Micah Octave set a high screen on the left elbow allowing Hunter to draw Sawyer on a switch. Seconds later, the freshman nudged left and let go of an 18-footer that rattled home to put the Broncbusters up by two.

"We won the game, but when you only come up with 63 points at the pace of play that we play at, I certainly was not pleased with that," Morosco stated.

Garden City struggled shooting the ball for the second straight game. They finished 4-of-16 from 3 and missed 13 of their 22 free throws. Still, when it was money time, Hunter delivered, bringing the Broncbusters to within a game of the .500 mark in conference play.

"We have to do a better job of finishing at the basket," Morosco said. "Three-point shooting has not been a strength of this team all season, so, I'm not expecting it to come from there. But finishing around the rim has been a strength of ours."

The Broncbusters had problems finding any rhythm in the first half, trailing by as many as nine after Edwards drained a 3-pointer from the left corner with eight seconds to go. Cloud County led 35-26 at the break thanks in large part to the fact that Garden City was limited to just a Rodney Lewis 3-pointer over the final three minutes of the period.

Lewis chipped in 13 points off the bench for Garden City, which improved to 5-2 on their home floor. Bligen tallied 12 points in 28 minutes, and Octave recorded a career-best seven steals.

Nate Duckworth paced Cloud County with 20 points on 7-o-f-11 shooting. Sawyer added 14.

Next up: Garden City vs. Butler-Wednesday, Jan. 12-7:30 p.m.