Hunter drops 30; Broncbusters win seventh in a row

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-If anyone ever questions Tone Hunter's toughness, shame on you.

Despite an ailing collarbone, the freshman point guard was sensational, scoring 30 points while hitting all 11 free throws, Jyre McCloud posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 21 Garden City held on to beat Independence, 106-99 Wednesday afternoon at Conestoga Arena. It was the Broncbusters seventh straight win, improving their overall mark to 15-5 and 9-5 in the Jayhawk.

"We knew this game wasn't going to be easy, and with the schedule change, that could have thrown us for a loop," Head Coach, Bill Morosco said afterwards. "Great team win, and a big shout out to our fans, especially our student section for bringing it again."

After Mother Nature dropped almost 10 inches of snow on Garden City on Tuesday night, the game was moved up to 2 p.m. And the early start definitely had an effect. The Broncbusters couldn't buy basket early on and trailed by as many as six after Rodney Munson's free throw made it 17-11 seven minutes into the contest. But the Broncbusters found their footing, sparked by reserve Mike Carson, whose and-1 layup coupled with a corner 3, tied things up at 20. McCloud added a bunny inside, Josh Nwankwo drained two free throws, and Hunter hit an off-balance shot in the paint, putting a bow on a 19-3 surge that gave Garden City a 30-20 advantage with 8:25 to go.

"Independence gave us a couple of different matchup problems," Morosco said. "It took us a little while to figure things out, but once we did, I thought we played well."

Garden City was up seven at the half; then pushed the advantage to 11 on Hunters eye-popping three-point play to make it 55-44 with 18:08 remaining. Moments later, Heru Bligen's tough finish in traffic gave the Broncbusters their largest lead of the night, 60-48.

"Our plan is to put a ton of pressure on the opposing team," Morosco stated. "We knew we were deeper going into this game, and our plan was really to just outlast them."

But the Pirates didn't make things easy, and Paul Mathews' layup pulled Justin Mann's club to within four with 10:33 left. After Garden City stretched the lead back to 11, Shamann Artis went on his own personal 7-0 run, Ty Butner hit a shot just left of the lane, and Munson drained an open 3 from the right wing that tied the game at 90 with 3:41 to go.

"Coach Mann does a heck of a job with that team," Morosco said. "They were extremely short handed coming into today."

At that point, all the momentum had shifted, and the Broncbusters needed a bucket. And with the shot clock about to expire, Hunter banked home a 24-footer from the top of the key over the outstretched arms of Munson to give the home team a three-point edge. The freshman followed with a couple of free throws, and Garden City was up five.

But even that didn't stick. Munson quickly answered on the other end with a triple, and Artis knotted the score at 97 with an easy driving layup with 1:06 on the clock.

"Give Independence a ton of credit, because they didn't make anything easy," Morosco added. "We had to really dig deep."

And the first-year coach was visibly frustrated during a late timeout, imploring his team to finish the job. They obliged.

With a chance to take the lead for the first time in the second half, Artis cut from the left wing to the paint. But Nwankwo shut him down quickly and knocked the ball free. The freshman then sprinted the other way before dropping a pocket pass to Bligen, who beat Jordan Clark to the rim for a layup and a three-point play to give the Broncbusters the lead for good. Hunter added two more free throws and a layup, and Mo Diarra swished two freebies, and the Broncbusters finished off the season split with the Pirates.

Hunter was 9-of-22 from the field for Garden City, which equaled its season-long seven-game winning streak. Diarra had 17 points and 11 boards, his 14^th career-double double, and Carson chipped in 14 in 15 minutes off the bench.

Butner paced six Pirates in double figures with 21. Artis tallied 19 in 29 minutes off the bench.

Next up: Garden City vs. Colby-Friday, Jan. 28-7 p.m.