Broncbusters pull off improbable comeback to win eighth straight

By Mike Pilosof 

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-With one massive exhale, Bill Morosco nearly collapsed to the ground. Less than 120 seconds earlier, his team was down 12 and appeared headed to its first loss of the calendar year. But a lot can change in a minute and 58 seconds. Still, what happened on Friday night has only been theorized in backyards and on video games. In practice, it seemed impossible.

Morosco apparently thrives on the impossible.

Tone Hunter finished with 27 points, Mo Diarra had 20 points and 12 boards, and No. 21 Garden City erased a 12-point deficit in the final 1:58 to beat Colby, 112-104 at Conestoga Arena. It was the Broncbusters eighth straight win, their longest streak in nine years.

"Did that really just happen?" Morosco asked afterwards. "You're never supposed to win a game like that."

Trailing 97-85, Garden City needed a miracle. Diarra answered their prayer.

The nation's top recruit scored six straight points including a thunderous two-handed slam, Hunter slithered inside for a layup, and Jyre McCloud hit a double-clutch bucket in the paint to pull Garden City within two with 27 seconds left. After Tyrone Marshall split a pair of free throws on the other end followed by a Allen Mukeba dunk that gave the Trojans a five-point cushion, Hunter responded with a spectacular three-point play-swishing a tough-angled floater from the left baseline that made it a two-point contest.

"It's amazing because while we made that run, we turned the ball over so many times after we stole it from them," Morosco said. "It was the craziest finish I've ever seen."

After a missed Colby free throw, Diarra hit a step-back 3 from the right wing that gave the Broncbusters their first lead of the half, 101-100 with 11 seconds to go. But Garden City afforded the visitors once last chance to force overtime when Hunter was whistled for his fourth foul with nine seconds remaining. Ahmad Galimore bricked the first and swished the second to tie it up. Hunter then missed an off-balance jumper on the other end in the waning seconds, sending the game into OT.

"I'd say we should have won the game in regulation, but we were down double digits," Morosco added with a smirk. "I mean, what do you say?"

Hunter's layup 53 seconds into the extra period gave Garden City the lead for good. Heru Bligen followed with two free throws, Josh Nwankwo drilled a 16-footer, and the Broncbusters were up 107-101 with 2:36 to play. Incredibly, over the final 6:58, Garden City outscored Colby 27-9.

"The style that we play, you figured maybe this was the night we were going to lose," Morosco said. "But then you look up, and you're up by eight in overtime."

The Broncbusters relentless pressure over those incredible final two minutes of regulation, flipped the game on its heels. In fact, Garden City forced 16 second-half turnovers.

"Colby hit a lot of contested jumpers tonight," Morosco said. "You tip your cap to them because that's a good team. But I thought we played them well on that end. They just hit a bunch of shots."

After being limited to just 38 points on 34 percent shooting in the first half, Garden City completely turned it around, scoring 74 points over the final 25 minutes on 51 percent shooting. They outrebounded Colby, 52-30 and finished 10-of-30 from beyond the arc.

"It's a testament to what we've been working on in practice," Morosco said. "These guys bring it every day. We won a game though on a night where we didn't play our best."

For much of Friday night's showdown, Garden City appeared disconnected on the defensive end. The Trojans sliced through press city, shooting nearly 50 percent in the first half while building a 10-point lead going into the locker room.

Not much changed after halftime.

With less than three minutes to go in the game, JJ White canned a 3-pointer from the left wing giving Colby what appeared to be an insurmountable 93-79 advantage.

Bligen added 15 points and seven boards for Garden City, which improved to 16-5 overall and 10-5 in conference play. Micah Octave had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and McCloud tallied 13 in 26 minutes off the bench.

Johnson buried five triples and finished with 24 points for Colby. Marshall chipped in 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Next up: Garden City at Colby-Saturday, Jan. 29-4 p.m.